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bananaofswifts · 4 years ago

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Taylor Swift appears to be waging war over the serial resale of her old master recordings on two fronts. She recently confirmed that she is already underway in the process of re-recording the six albums she made for the Big Machine label, in order to steer her fans (and sync licensing execs) toward the coming alternate versions she’ll control. But now that she’s followed the surprise release of “Folklore” with the very, very surprise release of “Evermore” less than five months later, the thought may occur: If she keeps up this pace, she may have more new albums out on the Republic label than she ever did on Big Machine in a quarter of the time. Flooding the zone to further crowd out the oldies is unlikely to be Swift’s real motivation for giving the world a full-blown “Folklore” sequel this instantaneously: As motivations for prolific activity go, relieving and sublimating quarantine pressure is probably even better than revenge. Anyway, this is not a gift horse to be looked in the mouth. “Evermore,” like its mid-pandemic predecessor, feels like something that’s been labored over — in the best possible way — for years, not something that was written and recorded beginning in August, with the bow said to be put on it only about a week ago. Albums don’t get graded on a curve for how hastily they came together, or shouldn’t be, but this one doesn’t need the handicap. It’d be a jewel even if it’d been in progress forevermore and a day.The closest analog for the relation the new album bears to its predecessor might be one that’d seem ancient to much of Swift’s audience: U2 following “Achtung Baby” with “Zooropa” while still touring behind the previous album. It’s hard to remember now that a whole year and a half separated those two related projects; In that very different era, it seemed like a ridiculously fast follow-up. But the real comparison lies in how U2, having been rewarded for making a pretty gutsy change of pace with “Achtung,” seemed to say: You’re okay with a little experimentation? Let’s see how you like it when we really boil things down to our least commercial impulses, then — while we’ve still got you in the mood.Swift isn’t going avant-garde with “Evermore.” If anything, she’s just stripping things down to even more of an acoustic core, so that the new album often sounds like the folk record that the title of the previous one promised — albeit with nearly subliminal layers of Mellotrons, flutes, French horns and cellos that are so well embedded beneath the profuse finger-picking, you probably won’t notice them till you scour the credits. But it’s taking the risk of “Folklore” one step further by not even offering such an obvious banger (irony intended) as “Cardigan.” Aaron Dessner of the National produced or co-produced about two-thirds of the last record, but he’s on 14 out of 15 tracks here (Jack Antonoff gets the remaining spot), and so the new album is even more all of a piece with his arpeggiated chamber-pop impulses, Warmth amid iciness is a recurring lyrical motif here, and kind of a musical one, too, as Swift’s still increasingly agile vocal acting breathes heat into arrangements that might otherwise seem pretty controlled. At one point Swift sings, “Hey, December, I’m feeling unmoored,” like a woman who might even know she’s going to put her album out a couple of weeks before Christmas. It’s a wintry record — suitable for double-cardigan wearing! — and if you’re among the 99% who have been feeling unmoored, too, then perhaps you are Ready For It. Swift said in announcing the album that she was moving further into fiction songwriting after finding out it was a good fit on much of “Folklore,” a probably inevitable move for someone who’s turning 31 in a few days and appears to have a fairly settled personal life. Which is not to say that there aren’t scores to settle, and a few intriguing tracks whose real-life associations will be speculated upon. But just as the “Betty”/”August” love triangle of mid-year established that modern pop’s most celebrated confessional writer can just make shit up, too, so, here, do we get the narrator of “Dorothea,” a honey in Tupelo who is telling a childhood friend who moved away and became famous that she’s always welcome back in her hometown. (Swift may be doing a bit of empathic wondering in a couple of tracks here how it feels to be at the other end of the telescope.) One time the album takes a turn away from rumination into a pure spirit of fun — while getting dark anyway — is “No Body, No Crime,” a spirited double-murder ballad that may have more than a little inspiration in “Goodbye, Earl.” Since Swift already used the Dixie Chicks for background vocals two albums ago, for this one she brings in two of the sisters from Haim, Danielle and Este, and even uses the latter’s name for one of the characters. Yes, the rock band Haim’s featured appearance is on the only really country-sounding song on the record… there’s one you didn’t see coming, in the 16 hours you had to wonder about it. Yet there are also a handful of songs that clearly represent a Swiftian state of mind. At least, it’s easy to suppose that the love songs that opens the album, “Willow,” is a cousin to the previous record’s “Invisible String” and “Peace,” even if it doesn’t offer quite as many clearly corroborating details about her current relationship as those did. On the sadder side, Swift is apparently determined to run through her entire family tree for heartrending material. On “Lover,” she sang for her stricken mother; on “Folklore,” for her grandfather in wartime. In that tradition the new album offers “Marjorie,” about the beloved grandmother she lost in 2003, when she was 13. (The lyric videos that are being offered online mostly offer static visual loops, but the one for “Marjorie” is an exception, reviving a wealth of stills and home-movie footage of Grandma, who was quite a looker in a miniskirt in her day.) Rue is not something Swift is afraid of here anymore than anywhere else, as she sings, “I should’ve asked you questions / I should’ve asked you how to be / Asked you to write it down for me / Should’ve kept every grocery store receipt / ‘Cause every scrap of you would be taken from me,” lines that will leave a dry eye only in houses that have never known death. The piece de resistance in its poignance is Swift actually resurrecting faint audio clips of Marjorie, who was an opera singer back in the day. It’s almost like ELO’s “Rockaria,” played for weeping instead of a laugh. Swift has not given up, thank God, on the medium that brought her to the dance — the breakup song — but most of them here have more to do with dimming memories and the search for forgiveness, however slowly and incompletely achieved, than feist. But doesn’t Swift know that we like her when she’s angry? She does, and so she delves deep into something like venom just once, but it’s a good one. The ire in “Closure,” a pulsating song about an unwelcome “we can still be friends, right?” letter from an ex, seems so fresh and close to the surface that it would be reasonable to speculate that it is not about a romantic relationship at all, but a professional one she has no intention of ever recalling in a sweet light. Or maybe she does harbor that a disdain for an actual former love with that machinelike a level of intensity. What “Evermore” is full of is narratives that, like the music that accompanies them, really come into focus on second or third listen, usually because of a detail or two that turns her sometimes impressionistic modes completely vivid. “Champagne Problems” is a superb example of her abilities as a storyteller who doesn’t always tell all: She’s playing the role of a woman who quickly ruins a relationship by balking at a marriage proposal the guy had assumed was an easy enough yes that he’d tipped off his nearby family. “Sometimes you just don’t know the answer ‘ Til someone’s on their knees and asks you / ‘She would’ve made such a lovely bride / What a shame she’s fucked in the head’ / They said / But you’ll find the real thing instead / She’ll patch up your tapestry that I shred.” (Swift has doubled the F-bomb quotient this time around, among other expletives, for anyone who may be wondering whether there’s rough wordplay amid Dessner’s delicacy — that would an effing yes.) “‘Tis the Damn Season,” representing a gentler expletive, gives us a character who is willing to settle, or at least share a Christmas-time bed with an ex back in the hometown, till something better comes along. The pleasures here are shared, though not many more fellow artists have broken into her quarantine bubble this time around. Besides Haim’s cameo, Marcus Mumford offers a lovely harmony vocal on “Cowboy Like Me,” which might count as the other country song on the album, and even throws in something Swift never much favored in her Nashville days, a bit of lap steel. Its tale of male and female grifters meeting and maybe — maybe — falling in love is really more determinedly Western than C&W, per se, though. The National itself, as a group, finally gets featured billing on “Coney Island,” with Matt Berninger taking a duet vocal on a track that recalls the previous album’s celebrated Bon Iver collaboration “Exile,” with ex-lovers taking quiet turns deciding who was to blame. (Swift saves the rare laugh line for herself: “We were like the mall before the internet / It was the one place to be.) Don’t worry, legions of new Bon Iver fans: Dessner has not kicked Justin Vernon out of his inner circle just to make room for Berninger. The Bon Iver frontman whose appearance on “Folklore” came as a bit of a shock to some of his fan base actually makes several appearances on this album, and the one that gets him elevated to featured status again, as a duet, the closing “Evermore,” is different from “Exile” in two key ways. Vernon gets to sing in his high register… and he gets the girl. As it turned out, the year 2020 did not involve any such waiting for Swift fans; it’s an embarrassment of stunning albums-ending-in-“ore” that she’s mined out of a locked-down muse.

#taylor swift #evermore #review

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bopinion · 3 years ago

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Album of the month / 2021 / 08 August

I love listening to music - gladly, all the time, everywhere. That's why I would like to share which music (or which album, after all I'm still from the vinyl generation ;-) I enjoy, accompanies me, slides up my playlists again and again...

The Beatles & George Martin

LOVE

Rock-Remix / 2006 / Parlophone, Apple, EMI (Universal Music Group)

When you hear the term "remix," it's usually a DJ putting a danceable techno beat under a pop or rock song. And often enough, this leaves the original performer or composer turning in his grave to the same frantic beat. But there are also exceptions. And one of them this time is my album of the month.

34 years ago in Québec I visited a kind of circus performance that was new to me. There were no animals, but excellent artistry. The whole thing was embedded in an almost psychedelic production of sounds and music and light effects and projections. Although individual acts, the whole was dramaturgically staged like an opera or a musical in one piece. The name of the circus was "Cirque du Soleil". A concept that in the following years and decades went from French Canada around the world and celebrated legendary successes everywhere - including artists in residence in Las Vegas. The visionary founder Guy Laliberté also became known worldwide as an impresario and, incidentally, a billionaire.

There are bands I really regret never having seen live. For example, The Queen with Freddie Mercury, although at least I met the latter once in a club in Munich - well, we were in the same room for a few hours. But there is also the opposite, for example The Beatles. As much as I appreciate these musical titans, a concert seems rather witless to me: film footage shows four musicians on stage, initially even dressed alike, operating their instruments without notable movements or show effects and trying to permanently drown out screaming young ladies. But maybe I only comfort myself with this assessment, because I was and am simply too young to be able to experience John, Paul, George and Ringo in their active time on stage. Anyway.

Guy Laliberté and George Harrison were friends. And at some point - I imagine the two of them over a cup of yogi tea after meditative yoga, one handing the other the joint "You, I have an idea..." - the idea was born to bring together the two cultural phenomena Cirque du Soleil and The Beatles. As a composition for all senses, new and timeless, ecstatic and colorful. After all, it was Harrison who was always eager to experiment. He converted to Hinduism in the 60s, gained experience with psychedelics and transcendental meditation and introduced oriental instruments, first and foremost the sitar, into Western music and is thus considered one of the most important pioneers of world music. A development that goes hand in hand with my personal taste: the longer their hair got, the more I liked their music.

It was only after Harrison's death that Laliberté was able to close the deal with the rights holders of the music (Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison), which can thus probably be considered a kind of Harrison's legacy. For the show was not to simply put together a soundtrack of the old familiar hits, nor were the compositions to be reinterpreted by other musicians. No, the original multi-track recordings were to be used to create new adaptations of the original songs. And who would be better qualified for this than George Martin, who had already produced groundbreaking albums with the Beatles themselves. In the process, he advanced from mere producer to arranger and idea generator, who also revolutionized recording technology by using overdubbing, for example. It's hardly surprising that he is often referred to as the "fifth Beatle".

In general, Sir George Henry Martin, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, is a man of musical superlatives. He is recorded as the producer of 4,836 titles, but one assumes considerably more. And that includes not only The Beatles, but also a wide variety of works for Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Manfred Mann, Little River Band, Ultravox and many more. His 30th number one hit was "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John. Martin founded the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts with McCartney, was one of a handful of producers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and received the BRIT Award for "Best British Producer of the Past 25 Years" in 1977, among countless other honors.

So George Martin went into the studio with his son Giles Martin, who had produced INXS and Kate Bush, among others, following in his father's footsteps. And not just any studio - of course it had to be Abbey Road Studios (again). With the original recordings, the team not only created new variations of the original pieces, as they could have been created alternatively with the Beatles themselves. For example, they enriched the acoustic version of "While my Guitar gently weeps" with an orchestral accompaniment and combined the rhythm of "Tomorrow never knows" with the vocals of "Within You without You". Thus, a soundtrack project for a circus stage show ultimately became a new album by the Beatles. No wonder that Sir Paul himself described "Love" like this: "This album puts The Beatles back together again. It's kind of magical." And Ringo added "George and Giles did such a great job combining these tracks. It's really powerful for me and I even heard things I'd forgotten we'd recorded."

The documentary "All together now - A Documentary Film" by Adrian Wills (director) and Heidi Haines (screenplay), which won a Grammy in the category "Best long form Music Video", also fits the project's ambition. It tells the entire story of LOVE's creation, from the first meetings of the creative team around Martin and Laliberté to interviews with, among others, McCartney, Starr, Yoko Ono, John Lennon's widow, and Neil Aspinall, the Beatles' longtime road manager and event technician, to the first rehearsals of the stage show in Montréal.

LOVE is more than a medley of hits by the mushroom heads, but rather a kind of rock opera that is a first-class listening experience even without the accompanying show. Says George Martin: "The Beatles always looked for other ways of expressing themselves and this is another step forward for them." And father and son succeeded with remarkable creativity. The new version of "Because" is still directly harmless, since it uses the birdsong of "Across the Universe" as well as the final chord of "A Day in the Life" played backwards. "Glass Onion," on the other hand, became a grandiose collage with elements of the songs "Things We Said Today," "Hello, Goodbye" (background vocals), "I Am the Walrus" (background vocals), "Penny Lane" (flute), "A Day in the Life" (orchestra), "Magical Mystery Tour" (effects) and "Only a Northern Song" (effects). State-of-the-art technology in digitization, mixing and mastering also ensure the finest sound quality.

Speaking of sound quality: a show that relies so heavily on music must of course also rely on a perfect acoustic performance. Created by French designer Jean Rabasse, the LOVE theater at The Mirage / Las Vegas houses 2,013 seats set around a central stage. Each seat is fitted with three speakers, which sums up to a spectacular sound system with 6,351 speakers designed by Jonathan Deans. The stage includes 11 lifts, 4 traps, and 13 automated tracks and trolleys. The theater features 32 digital projectors creating very large high definition digital 100' wide panoramic images, even on four translucent screens that can be unfurled to divide the auditorium. That's what I call "being in the middle of the action".

Reportedly, the theater cost more than $100 million - which doesn't even include the development of the show. And unfortunately, it also means LOVE can never go on tour. So I won't be able to avoid traveling to Las Vegas one day for that reason alone. Which I trust will be on the event calendar for a few more years to recoup its costs. And so the circle closes: Decades later, I would once again enjoy Cirque du Soleil in North America - and thus also experience The Beatles live in a somewhat different way.

Here's a trailer for the Las Vegas Show LOVE from the Cirque du Soleil:

https://youtu.be/hIJZAfyRlD4

youtube

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dustedmagazine · 3 years ago

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Dusted Mid-Year Round-Up: Part 2, Dr. Pete Larson to Young Slo-Be

James Brandon Lewis

The mid-year exchange continues with the second half of the alphabet and another round of Dusted writers reviewing other people’s favorite records. Today’s selection runs the gamut from Afro-beat to hip hop to experimental music and includes some of this year’s best jazz records. Check out part one if you missed it yesterday.

Dr. Pete Larson and His Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band — Damballah (Dagoretti Records)

Damballah by Dr. Pete Larson and his Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band

Who Picked it? Mason Jones

Did we review it? No, but Jennifer Kelly said about his previous record, “It’s authentic not to some musicological conception of what nyatiti music should sound like, but to the instincts and proclivities of the musicians involved.”

Bryon Hayes’ take:

Judging from Jenny’s review, Dr. Pete Larson hasn’t really changed his modus operandi much since last year’s self-titled release. Well, he has appeared to have dropped vocalist Kat Steih and drummer Tom Hohman, who aren’t credited with an appearance on Damballah. Sonically, this album feels more polished than its predecessor. There’s a richness that was lacking before, a sense of clarity that Larson seems to have added here. He still hypnotizes with his nyatiti but doesn’t lose himself behind the other players. That sense of mesmerizing repetition of short passages on the resonant lute-like instrument is what sets the music of the Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band apart from other rock groups who play in the psychedelic vein. It’s easy to get lost in the intricate plucking patterns as the guitars and synths swirl about. The rhythms bounce cleverly against those created by the percussion, anchoring the songs to solid ground. Balancing the airy and the earthy, Dr. Peter Larson and His Cytotoxic Nyatiti Band create a cosmic commotion perfect for contemplation.

James Brandon Lewis / Red Lily Quintet — Jesup Wagon (TAO Forms)

Jesup Wagon by James Brandon Lewis / Red Lily Quintet

Who recommended it? Derek Taylor

Did we review it? Yes, Derek said, “’Fallen Flowers’ and ‘Seer’ contain sections of almost telepathic convergence, the former and the closing ‘Chemurgy’ culminating in Lewis’ spoken words inculcating the import of his subject.”

Tim Clarke’s take:

Tenor saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis demonstrates his control of the instrument in the opening moments of Jesup Wagon’s title track. Before his Red Lily Quintet bandmates join the fray, he alternates between hushed ululations and full-blooded honks, inviting the listener to lean in conspiratorially. Once the rest of the band fire up, cornet player Kirk Knuffke, bassist William Parker, cellist Chris Hoffman and drummer Chad Taylor lock into a loose, muscular shuffle. Their collective chemistry is immediately evident, and each player has the opportunity to shine across this diverse set’s 50-minute runtime. I’m particularly drawn to the rapid-fire rhythmic runs on “Lowlands of Sorrow,” the gorgeous cello on “Arachis,” and the spacious, mbira-laced “Seer.” There’s something about the mournful horn melody of the final piece, “Chemurgy,” that sends me back to first hearing Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman” — and, just like that, I’m excited about the prospect of exploring jazz again, for the first time in a long time. Great pick, Derek.

Roscoe Mitchell & Mike Reed — The Ritual And The Dance (Astral Spirits)

the Ritual and the Dance by Roscoe Mitchell & Mike Reed

Who recommended it? Derek Taylor

Did we review it? Yes, Derek wrote, “Roscoe Mitchell remains an improvisational force to be reckoned with.”

Andrew Forell’s take:

For 17-plus minutes, Roscoe Mitchell solos on his soprano with barely a pause, the rush of notes powered by circular breathing, as drummer Mike Reed’s controlled clatter counterpoints Mitchell’s exploration of his instrument’s range and tonal qualities in what sounds like a summation of his long career at the outer edge of jazz. It‘s an extraordinary beginning to this performance, recorded live in 2015. On first listen it sounds chaotic, but shapes emerge in Mitchell’s sound, and Reed’s combination of density and silence complements, punctuates and supports in equal measure. After an incisive solo workout from Reed combining clanging metal and rolling toms, Mitchell swaps to tenor and the pace changes. Longer, slower notes, a rougher, reed heavy tone and a lighter touch from Reed. Having not closely followed Mitchell’s work since his days in The Art Ensemble Of Chicago, this performance was a revelation and will have me searching back through his catalog.

The Notwist — Vertigo Days (Morr Music)

Vertigo Days by The Notwist

Who recommended it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes, Tim said, “The Notwist really know how to structure a front-to-back listening experience, and this is emphatically a work of art best appreciated as a whole.”

Arthur Krumins’ take:

In his review of Vertigo Days, Tim Clarke highlights the “multiple layers of drifting, shifting instrumentation.” It is an album that seems unbound by adherence to a set instrument lineup, and it moves quickly between moods both frenetic and contemplative. However, due to a careful mixing and an unforced approach to genre expectations, it is a surprising and varied listen that bears repeated scrutiny. The touchstones of the sound are at times the motorik beat of krautrock, at others the ethereal indie pop of their melodies and the quality of their singing. It feels like the perfect quirky coffee shop album, just out there enough to create a vibe, but tactful enough to take you along for the ride.

Dorothea Paas — Anything Can’t Happen (Telephone Explosion)

Anything Can't Happen by Dorothea Paas

Who picked it? Arthur Krumins.

Did we review it? No.

Eric McDowell’s take:

In one sense, it’s fair to say that Dorothea Paas’s debut album opens with a false start: A single note sounded and then retreated from, fingers sliding up and down the fretboard with the diffidence of a throat clearing. Yet what gesture could more perfectly introduce an album so marked by uncertainty, vulnerability, and naked self-assessment?

If Anything Can’t Happen is an open wound, it’s a wound Paas willingly opens: “I’m not lonely now / Doing all the things I want to and working on my mind / Sorting through old thoughts.” That doesn’t make the pain any less real — though it does make it more complex. “It’s so hard to trust again / When you can’t even trust yourself,” Paas sings on the utterly compelling title track, her gaze aiming both inward and outward. Elsewhere she admits: “I long for a body closer to mine / But I don’t want to seek, I just want to find.” Instrumentally, Paas and her bandmates manage to temper an inclination toward static brooding with propulsive forward motion, a balance that suits the difficult truth — or better yet, difficult truce — the album arrives at in the climactic “Frozen Window”: “How can I open to love again, like a plant searches for light through a frozen window? / Can I be loved, or is it all about control? / I will never know until I start again.” In the spirit of starting again, Anything Can’t Happen ends with a doubling down on the opening prelude, reprising and extending it — no false start to be found.

Dominic Pifarely Quartet — Nocturnes (Clean Feed)

Nocturnes by Dominique Pifarély Quartet

Who recommended it? Jason Bivins

Did we review it? No

Derek Taylor’s take:

Pifarely and I actually go way back in my listening life, specifically to Acoustic Quartet, an album the French violinist made for ECM as a co-leader with countryman clarinetist Louis Sclavis in 1994. Thirty-something at the time, his vehicle for that venture was an improvising chamber ensemble merging classical instrumentation and extended techniques with jazz and folk derived influences. The results, playful and often exhilaratingly acrobatic, benefited greatly from austere ECM house acoustics. Nearly three decades distant, Nocturnes is a different creature, delicate and darker hued in plumage and less enamored of melody, harmony and rhythm, at least along conventional measures. Drones and other textures are regular elements of the interplay between the leader’s strings, the piano of Antonin Rayon and the sparse braiding and shadings of bassist Bruno Chevillon and drummer Francois Merville. Duos also determine direction, particular on the series of titular miniatures that are as much about space as they are centered in sound. It’s delightful to get reacquainted after so much time apart.

The Reds Pinks & Purples — Uncommon Weather (Slumberland/Tough Love)

Uncommon Weather by The Reds, Pinks & Purples

Who picked it? Jennifer Kelly

Did we review it? Yes, Jennifer said, “Uncommon Weather is undoubtedly the best of the Reds, Pinks & Purples discs so far, an album that is damned near perfect without seeming to try very hard.”

Bill Meyer’s take:

Sometimes a record hits you where you live. Glenn Donaldson’s too polite to do you any harm, but he not only knows where you live, he knows your twin homes away from home, the record store and the club where you measure your night by how many bands’ sets separate you from last call. He knows the gushing merch-table mooches and the old crushes that casually bring the regulars down, and he also knows how to make records just like the ones that these folks have been listening to since they started making dubious choices. Uncommon Weather sounds like a deeply skilled recreation of early, less chops-heavy Bats, and if that description makes sense to you, so will this record.

claire rousay — A Softer Focus (American Dreams Records)

a softer focus by Claire Rousay

Who picked it? Bryon Hayes

Did we review it? Yes, Bryon Hayes wrote, “These field recordings of the mundane, when coupled with the radiance of the musical elements, are magical.”

Ian Mathers’ take:

In a weird way (because they are very different works from very different artists), A Softer Focus reminds me a bit of Robert Ashley’s Private Parts (The Album). Both feel like the products of deep focus and concentration but wear their rigor loosely, and both feel like beautifully futile attempts to capture or convey the rich messiness of human experience. But although there is a musicality to Private Parts, Ashley is almost obsessed by language and language acts, and even though the human voice is more present than ever in rousay’s work (not just sampled or field recorded, but outright albeit technologically smeared singing on a few tracks) it feels like it reaches to a place in that experience beyond words. The first few times I played it I had moments where I was no longer sure exactly what part of what I was hearing were coming from my speakers versus from outside my apartment, and as beautiful as the more conventional ambient/drone aspects of A Softer Focus are (including the cello and violin heard throughout), it’s that kind of intoxicating disorientation, of almost feeling like I’m experiencing someone else’s memory, that’s going to stay with me the longest.

M. Sage — The Wind Of Things (Geographic North)

The Wind of Things by M. Sage

Who recommended it? Bryon Hayes

Did we review it? No

Bill Meyer’s take:

Matthew Sage’s hybrid music gets labeled as ambient by default. Sure, it’s gentle enough to be ignorable, but Sage’s combination of ruminative acoustic playing (mostly piano and guitar, with occasional seasoning from reeds, violin, banjo, and percussion) and memory-laden field recordings feels so personal that it’s hard to believe he’d really be satisfied with anyone treating this stuff as background music. But that combination of the placid and the personal may also be The Wind of Things’ undoing since it’s a bit too airy and undemonstrative to make an impression.

Skee Mask — Pool (Ilian Tape)

ITLP09 Skee Mask - Pool by Skee Mask

Who picked it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? No

Robert Ham’s take:

Pool is an appropriate title for the new album by Munich electronic artist Bryan Müller. The record is huge and deep, with its 18 tracks clocking in at around 103 minutes. And Müller has pointedly only released the digital version of Pool through Bandcamp, adding it a little hurdle to fans who just want to pick and choose from its wares for their playlists. Dipping one’s toes in is an option, but the only way to truly appreciate the full effect is to dive on in.

Though Müller filled Pool up with around five years’ worth of material, the album plays like the result of great deliberation. It flows with the thoughtfulness and intention of an adventurous DJ set, with furious breakbeat explosions like “Breathing Method” making way for the languorous ambient track “Ozone” and the unbound “Rio Dub.” Then, without warning, the drum ‘n’ bass breaks kick in for a while.

The full album delights in those quick shifts into new genres or wild seemingly disparate sonic connections happening within the span of a single song. But again, these decisions don’t sound like they were made carelessly. Müller took some time with this one to get the track list just right. But if there is one thread that runs along the entirety of Pool, it is the air of joy that cuts through even its downcast moments. The splashing playfulness is refreshing and inviting.

Speaker Music — Soul-Making Theodicy (Planet Mu)

Soul-Making Theodicy by Speaker Music

Who picked it? Mason Jones

Did we review it? No

Robert Ham’s take:

The process by which DeForrest Brown Jr., the artist known as Speaker Music, created his latest EP sounds almost as exciting as the finished music. If I understand it correctly — and I’m not entirely sure that I do — he created rhythm tracks using haptic synths, a Push sequencer, and a MIDI keyboard, that he sent through Ableton and performed essentially a live set of abstract beats informed by free jazz, trap and marching band. Or as Brown calls them “stereophonic paintings.”

Whatever term you care to apply to these tracks and however they were made, the experience of listening to them is a dizzying one. A cosmic high that takes over the synapses and vibrates them until your vision becomes blurry and your word starts to smear together like fog on a windshield. Listening to this EP on headphones makes the experience more vertiginous if, like I did, you try to unearth the details and sounds buried within the centerpiece track “Rhythmatic Music For Speakers,” a 33-minute symphony of footwork stuttering and polyrhythms. Is that the sound of an audience responding to this sensory overload that I hear underneath it all? Or is that wishful imaginings coming from a mind hungry for the live music experience?

The Telescopes — Songs of Love And Revolution (Tapete)

Songs Of Love And Revolution by the telescopes

Who recommended it? Robert Ham

Did we review it? No.

Andrew Forell’s take:

Songs Of Love And Revolution glides along on murky subterranean rhythms that evoke Mo Tucker’s heartbeat toms backed with thick bowel-shaking bass lines. Somewhere in the murk Stephen Lawrie’s murmured vocals barely surface as he wrings squalls of noise from his guitar to create a dissonant turmoil to contrast the familiarity of what lies beneath. The effect is at once hypnotic and joltingly thrilling, similar to hearing Jesus And Mary Chain for the first time but played a at pace closer to Bedhead. A kind of slowcore shoegaze, its mystery enhanced by what seems deliberately monochrome production that forces and rewards close attention. When they really let go on “We See Magic And We Are Neutral, Unnecessary” it hits like The Birthday Party wrestling The Stooges. So yeah, pretty damn good.

Leon Vynehall — Rare, Forever (Ninja Tune)

Rare, Forever by LEON VYNEHALL

Who recommended it? Patrick Masterson

Did we review it? No.

Jason Bivins’ take:

I was amused to see Leon Vynehall’s album tucked into the expansive “Unknown genre” non-category. This is, as is often the case with these mid-year exchanges, a bit far afield from the kind of music I usually spin. Much of it is, I suppose, rooted in house music. Throughout these tracks, there are indeed some slinky beats that’ll get you nodding your head while prepping the dinner or while studying in earnest. There’s plenty to appreciate on the level of grooves and patterns, but he closer you listen, the more subversive, sneaky details you notice. The opening “Ecce! Ego!” isn’t quite as brash as the title would suggest, featuring some playfully morphed voices, old school synth patches and snatches of instrumentalism. But after just a couple minutes, vast cosmic sounds start careening around your brainpan while a metal bar drops somewhere in the audial space. Did that just happen? you wonder as the groove continues. Moments of curiosity and even discomfort are plopped down, sometimes as transitions (like the closing vocal announcement on “In>Pin” — “like a moth” — that introduces the echo-canyon of “Mothra”) but usually as head-scrambling curveballs. Startled voices or flutes or subterranean sax bubble up from beneath deep house thrum, then are gone in ways that are arresting and deceptive. I still don’t know what to make of the lounge-y closing to “Snakeskin – Has-Been” or the unexpected drone monolith of “Farewell! Magnus Gabbro.” In its way, Vynehall’s music is almost like what you’d get if Graham Lambkin or Jason Lescalleet made a house record. Pretty rich stuff.

Michael Winter — single track (Another Timbre)

single track by Michael Winter

Who recommended it? Eric McDowell

Did we review it? Not yet!

Mason Jones’ take:

Over its 45 minutes, Michael Winter’s 2015 composition slowly accelerates and accumulates, starting from an isolated violin playing slightly arrhythmic, single fast strokes. The playing, centered around a single root note, seems almost random, but flashes of melodic clusters make it clear they're not. After nine minutes other players have joined in and there's a developing drone, as things sort of devolve, with atonal combinations building. By the one-third mark everything has slowed down significantly, and the players are blending together, with fewer melodies standing out. Instead, it's almost more drone than not; and at a half hour in, most of the strings have been reduced to slowly changing tones. As we near the end we’re hearing beautiful layers of string drones, descending into the final few minutes of nearly static notes. It's an intriguing and oddly listenable composition given its atonality. The early moments bring to mind Michael Nyman, and the later movements summon thoughts of Tony Conrad and La Monte Young, but it's clearly different from any of them, and more than the sum of those parts.

Young Slo-Be — Red Mamba (KoldGreedy Entertainment / Thizzler On The Roof)

youtube

Who picked it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? No.

Ian Mathers’ take:

The 12 tracks on Red Mamba fly by in a little over 27 minutes (not a one breaks the three-minute mark) but the result doesn’t feel slight so much as pared down to a sharpness you might cut yourself on. Stockon’s Young Slo-Be only seems to have one flow (or maybe it’d be more accurate to say he only seems interested in one) but he knows how to wield it with precision and force, and if the subject matter hews closely to the accepted canon of gangbanger concerns, Slo-Be delivers it all with vivid language and the studied, superior disdain of an older brother explaining the world to you and busting your chops at the same time. The tracks on Red Mamba all come from different producers, but Slo-Be consistently chooses spectral, eerie, foreboding backgrounds for these songs, even when adding piano and church bells (on “Asshole”), dog barks (“21 Thoughts”) or even Godfather-esque strings (the closing “Rico Swavo”). What’s the old line about the strength of street knowledge? These are different streets, and different knowledge.

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maxbernini · 4 years ago

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skamfr is so much more fun when you ignore the plot, steal the characters from the show, and instead come up with headcanons about them. so therefore important scientific question: what type of music do we think la mif listens to?? here is my contribution to that below the cut. (my knowledge of french music is limited so this is english-based; apologies if the read more doesn’t work & you have to see all of this, im tagging it as “long post” so).

sekou: i feel like it’s been established that sekou is kind & empathetic in very “quiet” but important ways. he does things where you’re like, oh yeah that’s nice. but thinking about them beyond a surface level, they’re actually very meaningful: for example, hacking the account. that was second nature for him, an immediate reaction! but he took the lead from lola on what she wanted to do with it, and then took it down when she was ready, no questions asked, giving her agency (something she craves; also “maybe you’re just a good person” FIRST person all season to say that). so this is me saying i think he likes music where the emotion is...carefully constructed, but still powerful, still gut-punching. like classical/orchestral? or soundtrack music!! hello we KNOW he’s a future oscar winner (perhaps eliott would’ve been too had he listened to sekou's advice). he likes analysing films & their sound design, he loves the one for interstellar since the entire film is just science stuff + the power of love. he also likes beyonce and rihanna; songs like “xo”, “cheers to the weekend”, “bitch better have my money” and “countdown” remind him of dumb nights out with his friends. he also loves classic artists like whitney & tina turner: people you can dance to! videos on their insta + samedi 6:43 prove this (remember when he was going wild in the background when mayla were trying to flirt? legend).

lola: canonically didn’t like the music playing @ that bar (hip-hop i believe?). also canonically a dramatic teen: she has used music in her insta stories TWICE to call maya out, so i think she just listens to whatever she likes that happens to match her mood, and stares out the window pretending to be in a music video when she does so. but perhaps secretly prefers pop? or music she can jump and scream her lungs out to, like “i wanna get better” by bleachers or “shake it out” by florence and the machine? also if no one else is going to say it....she's a swiftie. she heard “love story” when she was eight and her heart ACHED with the forbidden romance of it all because when you're eight you somehow relate to lyrics you've never experienced irl, and she's sworn allegiance to taylor ever since. also definitely a paramore fan; she had a crush on hayley williams (“hard times”, “ain’t it fun”, and “the only exception” are her anthems, depending on the mood).

max: okay according to their insta he plays the guitar and SINGS so i think he probably listens to a lot of folksy/indie acoustic stuff, or at least plays a lot of them, and when la mif go camping he whips out the guitar and they have a sing-a-long. sometimes he leads; sometimes he'll fade into the background because he wants to listen to his friends or gets super into the strumming. either way he takes a bow at the end. sufjan stevens maybe when he's yearning over sekou (“i can’t explain the state that i’m in / the state of my heart, he was my best friend.”) also fleetwood mac (“the chain” when he’s angsty; “landslide” when it’s quiet & he hums it). but also rap and r&b? specifically stuff that hypes him up when he goes jogging or is urbex-ing by himself / when it's a somber, quiet group session. 100% a raleigh ritchie stan (they play "the greatest" in the car when they're driving at night; i think it's an anthem for them, max drums it on the wheel).

maya: canonically loves harry styles (she follows him on insta), but i am yet to decide whether this means she was one of those lesbians who Just Thought One Direction Were Neat, projected comphet crushes on them, or simply watched the music video for “watermelon sugar” and was like...i see the vision harry i see it!!! hayley kiyoko was important to her as a japanese lesbian teen girl but i think she's branched out to listen to other lgbt artists of colour now, like the internet (she vibes to “girl” when cleaning the apartment), frank ocean (she listens to his cover of “moon river” when she misses lola), and rina sawayama (“stfu!” when she’s having a bad day and/or dealing with racists @ work). however as a maya apologist i think it's important we also recognize that she has been known to canonically have, uh, questionable taste sometimes...so let's all accept that she unironically loves the glee cast version of “don't stop believin'” and move on! (we can discuss who the gleeks in la mif are later).

jo: ok this is the hardest one imo bc i think she’s most likely to follow in eliott’s footsteps and enjoy dubstep or something equally left field / cringey we can bully her for. but she canonically also likes reality shows and hates documentaries per their insta which seems like a more (for lack of better words) “mainstream” and "basic" thing to do, so to combine both feelings...electronic pop maybe? she definitely streamed charli xcx’s newest album & prefers her experimental stuff to her earlier pop stuff, but she mostly likes bouncing up and down. actually wait i want jo to stan, fucking...100 gecs or someone equally terrible. i want nobody in la mif to ever hand her the aux cord for that exact reason, but lola doesn't know she's unofficially banned from having it yet, so the first time they’re driving to urbex together she's like hey lola can you pass me that :D and lola does and la mif just FREEZE having realised too late and lola's very ???? but before they can do anything, the intro to “money machine” is being blasted, jo’s going feral, and lola is like. ok understood.

#long post #as always feel free to add on / critique!!#and please join me in my max/sekou pining slowburn best friends to lovers agenda #or my swiftie!lola and gleek!maya agenda. that one’s less angsty but more embarassing :-)#the way i spent more time & energy doing this than any assignment this semester 😐#okay but really...who in la mif watches/watched glee...who stans who...#skam france #my headcanons #la mif #*

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anyways-wonderwall · 4 years ago

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The Eurovision Special!!

Starting in 2017, I've listened to all the songs in Eurovision every year and anxiously awaited the winner. It started from my desire to listen to more and more foreign music, although I found that maybe this wasn't the best avenue for that as most of the songs are just pop music in English. Even though I only really like 2 songs every year I still keep coming back for more, and was actually really sad when there was no contest last year, which led me to go all in for this one.

I am a sucker for grading things via a spreadsheet, and for this I graded each song on a scale from 1-10 on the singer, song, catchiness, and performance. There was also a bonus category which is where I gave points if I actually liked the song or if it wasn't in English. This means that while generally the songs with a higher score I like more, that's not always the case (oh and the notes were my way of remembering what each song sounded like since there were so many). Well, without further ado, here are my top 5 songs of Eurovision 2021.

5) Belgium- The Wrong Place by Hooverphonic

Score: 25/40

Notes: “I actually really like this one, and the singer hit low notes really well”

Final ranking: 19th

Hooverphonic are among the oldest artists in the competition and you can hear that they know what they're doing. A lot of Eurovision songs are just in your face trying to make something memorable. This song is very low key and clear that they set out to make something that was good above anything else. The vocals are very very smooth and give the song a haunting feeling, and I'm a sucker for a good guitar part.

Most of the songs have both a performance video and a music video, so I just went with whatever was linked on the Eurovision website to give everyone a fair shot. For this song it was the music video, which I also really liked. Like the song it didn't try to be in your face, it told a story, and had some nice shock value to it that wasn't heavy handed.

4) The Netherlands- Birth of a New Age by Jeangu Macrooy

Score: 32/40

Notes: “people hurt and children dying people dying”

Final Ranking: 23rd

Okay the fact that this song didn't place that high is a federal crime because it is so freaking good. What I wrote in the notes is a reference to that one Black Eyed Peas song that I can never remember the lyrics to but this song has the same vibe as that. It's uplifting with a chorus that makes you feel like you belong, something that I didn't know I missed hearing in music.

What I think is especially interesting about this song is the clear African influence you can hear it in. The artist is from South America though, so it is fascinating to see all these cultures mix and then be presented in a European song competition. I think a LOT of focus was put this year on immigrants, with many of the contests having grown up in another country or being first generation. I really hope that trend continues because it led to a huge variety of songs this year and I liked them more than ever before.

3) Portugal- Love is on My Side by The Black Mamba

Score: 33/40

Notes: “Perfect score until he picked up the guitar”

Final Ranking: 12th

Okay this song is so so so good. The singer has a really unique voice and his live performance sounded just as good as a recording. It's wonderfully low key with some nice acoustic guitars and even a French horn solo. A French Horn! This song sounds timeless and I absolutely love it for that.

Now here is the only bad thing I have to say about it. In the performance video right at the end the singer picks up the electric guitar next to him to play the solo at the end. Fine right? Well he didn't have a strap on the guitar. My first thought was “is this mad lad actually about to play a solo like that?” but I was wrong because he totally just pretended to play the solo. It was so obvious that he wasn't actually playing it that it hurt. Just why would you do that. Why.

2) Iceland- 10 Years by Daði Freyr

Score: 38/40

Notes: “Dude it keeps getting better”

Final Ranking: 4th

Okay there is not a single bad thing I can possibly say about this song. It's infectious, it has a killer synth part, a keytar solo, it makes you want to groove, there's a choir, it's Scandinavian, and they even made their own dance for it. Everyone performing this song seems like they are just genuinely having a good time and watching both the performance and the music video makes anyone smile. I keep finding myself listening to this song over and over again and if you listen to anything on this list I really hope it is this one.

1)Italy- Zitti E Buoni by Måneskin

Score: 36/40

Notes: “Mi favorito”

Final Ranking: First!!

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in Eurovision history my favorite band won the whole thing. I don't think you understand how crazy this is. Usually the song that wins is unlistenable or at least very annoying. For the first time in a while actual talent won and I am beyond shocked. Maybe they needed a year off to think about what good music is. Whatever it took I am so glad that this song is getting the recognition it deserves.

So this one really doesn't fit the description of an average Eurovision song. It's hard rock with the whole song in Italian. The music video is gritty and all of the people in the band are the kids that would be deemed a “bad influence". I have no idea how this even made the cut for Eurovision truthfully. But I'm so glad it did.

The musicianship? Amazing. The vocals? Incredible. The lyrics? Well I know just enough Italian to know that they are about society seeing them as crazy and different. I love this song so much I think I'm going to listen to this entire group's discography, so you may see them in future reviews.

While Eurovision took a year off and devastated the world, I think this year definitely makes up for it. There was a much greater variety of genres this year and I don't think a rock song like this has ever won. I think now they're finally living up to their motto of “celebrating diversity".

(In case you're wondering, my least favorite songs were from Cyprus, Ukraine, and Ireland. All of them are completely unlistenable imo)

#eurovision #eurovision 2021 #maneskin #music review #music recommendation

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anotherescsite · 4 years ago

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The Estonians 2021

I used to love the Estonian finals. I looked forward to their songs. I can say I have avoided writing this until now because Estonian final and I have fallen out of love, and we now just glare at each other across the room like enemies. There have been some classic songs that are chosen, but for me, their best songs seem to come every three years (give or take) and that ain’t good.

So ERR have a list of songs which they have split into two semi finals that will be performed on February 18 and 20, before their final on March 6. The artists each have a clip of their song and some of them are very good. But I wanted to listen to the songs and I’ve put down my notes from that.

Semi-final one Tanja: “Best Night Ever” A dance number which will be great on stage with alot of choreography. It has a good sound and decent lyrics. Hans Nayna: “One By One Hans has an interesting deep voice that is very nice to listen to. The song is quite good, maybe a bit quiet that it is forgotten. Wiiralt: “Tuuled” A very country sound. It’s unique at least and it may stand out for being different from the norm. Kea: “Hypnotized” Uptempo song with excellent dance beat and good lyrics. Vocals okay, a decent song. Andrei Zevakin & Pluuto: “Wingman” Is it bad it took me 30 seconds to figure out this was not in English? It’s a speak-sing song, and while the music is nice, I’m not that into it. Karl Killing: “Kiss Me” Sounds quite raw and acoustic which is a nice difference to what you hear in a national final. It does feel a bit juvenile, so I dont expect it to go far. Nika Marula: “Calm Down” This starts quietly and then there is a burst of sound. Like to see this live and see how it goes. Egert Milder: “Free Again” A pleasant and joyful kind of song. I like everything about it. Curious how it will stand up to the competition. Tuuli Rand: “Üks öö” A fun song to listen to. It has a nice beat. Tuuli has a very generic voice. Koit Toome: “We Could Have Been Beautiful” A wonderful song that has peaks and troughs and ups and downs. Suits Koit’s voice quite nicely, should do okay. Kristin Kalnapenk: “Find A Way” Estonian jazz song; the music began and I was waiting on her to start singing, and she already had. The song has a good feel and seems to grow somewhat. Ivo Linna, Robert Linna, Supernova: “Ma olen siin When I saw that Ino Linna was singing, I wasn’t happy. Song is good though. I like the feel and the tempo and everything.

Semi-final two Sissi: “Time” This lady has a very nice tone to her voice, and it suits the tempo of the song nicely. It is an emotional ride. Gram-Of-Fun: “Lost In A Dance” Good beat to the song, but the vocals are a bit low and may need to be performed more powerfully to have an impact. I like it though. Kadri Voorand: “Energy” Sweet, high voice and song played at piano. Interesting song, but Í’m not sure if it has enough to capture the audience. Helen: “Nii kõrgele” Feels like Estonia of the past with some nice harmonies and pleasant beat. Not sure though. Redel: “Tartu” What is it? It seems to be a joke entrant, but it may not be. The music is great, the vocals are a mix. It feels like a mix of Meiecundimees üks Korsakov läks eile Lätti and Leto svet. Rahel: “Sunday Night” A different sound to some of the others, but it doesn’t have enough to be competitive in this field. Uku Haasma: “Kaos” Song is a bit too quiet and forgettable. Sadly, I was more interested in the film it came with than the song itself. Heleza: “6” French and Estonian is a really nice combination. I like it; don’t understand it, but I like the vocals and the beat. Uku Suviste: “The Lucky One” Vast improvement on last year’s song. Much more interesting and the tone of this song is better. Uku is making the final again. Alabama Watchdog: “Alabama Watchdog” Something to awaken you from the stupor of the Estonian song selection. Heavy in the sound department. Thankful for something new and interesting. Jüri Pootsmann: “Magus melanhoolia” A vastly superior song to ‘Play’. A mix of strong vocals and interesting music makes it a stand out song in the semi final. Suured Tüdrukud: “Heaven’s Not That Far Tonight” Not sure about this. It reminds me of something else submitted to Sweden many year’s ago. Hmmm.

Conclusion

I don’t know why I didn’t wait and review these when the finalist were known instead of the torture of listening to all of these. I may come back and change my mind because I’d like to see them performed live before I can say what will win.

At this stage, don’t be surprised if one of the former winners takes the crown. Of the others, Alabama Watchdog seems the best,

#estonia #esc #eesti laul 2021 #eurovision #the netherlands #rotterdam #2021

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eurosong · 5 years ago

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My ESC ‘20 ranking

Good morning folks, on this rather melancholy “Eurovision day.” Whilst this year may be cancelled and its songs pretty callously binned by the EBU, 2020 was a diverse year that deserves taking a close look at too, so here goes my customary full ranking of the year. I express some candid opinions, but they are just my take on things, no shade intended if you disagree.

41. Estonia - What love is It’s always most difficult to pick a last place because, no matter how sleek Eurovision gets, there are still a few abject horrors that sneak into the contest. With a score that would have been dated 30 years back, and lyrics that manage the peculiar double act of being both pompous and anodyne, this is horrid enough before Uku’s dubious xenophobic comments and his prevailing over a field of much more compelling songs get taken into account.

40. Macedonia - You The Macedonians, having achieved their best result ever last year (I’m happy for them, but also, Kaliopi deserved that), decided that they soared too close to the sun with Proud and decided to crash land this year to build their energy to soar again. That’s the only reasonable explanation I have for this effort which deeply repels me, doubling down on Luca Hänni’s “cocky guy in a sleazy bar” æsthetics and adds to it even worse lyrics, castrato singing and the unintended levity of the interpreter being far more interested in the bartender. Also one of a maddening number of duplicate titles that were nowhere near as good as the originals.

39. Cyprus - Running What is this void in the space of a song? I’ve listened to it dozens of times to do ratings over the past months. I’m still left with an icy emptiness because it does nothing to me, says nothing to me. The only thing that I can say in its favour is that it’s not a replay of replay aka Fuego 3. That’s it. It’s like it’s designed to leave little impression and hope to cruise by on diaspora and friendly votes alone.

38. Austria - Alive Austria have been on an interesting Eurovision journey, going from winning with Conchita to serving up this chirpy homophobe doing his best impression of Timberlake. A monumental step back from the singular tenderness of Pænda.

37. France - Mon alliée (The best in me) La déception de l’année sans doute. France, one of Europe’s cultural powerhouses, really said “forget Destination Eurovision, which showcased our music scene’s diversity and was one of the fandom’s favourite newer NFs. Let’s abolish it all and bring in the guys who made Bigger than us, because we really want a piece of that Big 5 bottom place action! Let’s throw away our cultural caché and get something about as French as flatpack furniture!”

This is like going to a pricey restaurant in Paris, expecting haute cuisine and instead getting some microwave-reheated IKEA köttbullar. And can we talk about how Amir of J’ai cherché fame is partly to “thank” for this in one of the biggest heel turns of the year? It’s like he wanted to ensure that France TV beg him to return by safeguarding his excellent score from being equalled. I also have to say, Tom Leeb seems like a nice guy with a good voice. He did his best to salvage this with the acoustic version, which lifts it up a few places. But not so many given that that Westlife reject b-side ending with a key change remains.

36. Germany - Violent thing Speaking of major cultural players dumping their national finals for no good reason, guten Tag, Deutschland! Germany once had one of the best and certainly most diverse NFs going. Instead of dumping Barbara Schönenberger as hostess - every year she’s presented, Germany have had calamity, and the one year they did well, 2018, she wasn’t host - they decided to pin all their hopes on a bewildered looking gossoon from Slovenia with yet another Timberclone song and some rather dubious live vox. As his countrywoman Lea Sirk said, it’s a hvala ne from me.

35. Spain - Universo Yes, it’s another year of the Big 5 not living up to its automatic qualification rights (except you, Italy, thank you for being the exception to the rule.) So here we’ve got a bland effort from Spain to avoid being bottom 5, except that ain’t how ESC works - you need something to get people to waste their money on voting for your song. And for me, this surely is not it. This was a bit higher on my ranking before because there are more objectively objectionable songs out there. But the nonsensical, repetitive lyrics, the painful attempt at a high note on perdónameeee, and getting stuck on a bus where I had to put up said screeching being played 5+ times means #35 is about right for where it deserves.

34. Armenia - Chains on you Armenia, usually a reliable mainstay in the top half of my listings at least, instead served up one of the most bewilderingly impalatable NFs of the season where every song sounded imported from the ESC anni horribili of the 00s. This has grown on me a little bit - I like tin drums and I like her weird accent - but the lyrics are amongst the year’s most pitiful (“ya wanna take me to a party, because you’re naughty”) and it just feels cheep to me. 33. Bulgaria - Tears getting sober I don’t see the appeal in this bewildering merger of dirge and Disney, and this is coming from someone who likes melancholic music more times than not. I find this one straight up unpleasant to listen to. The lyrics are of someone passive-aggressively glorying in the pain they wallow in to return the hurt, in “look how much you’re making me hurt myself” style. The syrupy score replete with key change is a bizarre, ghoulish accompaniment. Only this high because I recognise some artistic merit in its production.

32. Azerbaijan - Cleopatra Are Azerbaijan now at the stage where they’ve decided to pastiche themselves? The country with the worst LGBT rights of all contesting ESC having the monumental neck to send a song about “gay or straight or in between”? The country who have almost religiously avoided sending anything with any actual Azeri national character or heritage sending a song written by a Canadian, an American and a Frisian about a Greek-Egyptian ruler with a Japanese mantra and Latin affectations, so sending us around the world to pretty much everywhere except Azerbaijan? What can I say in favour of it? It’s a little bit catchy. So are venereal diseases.

31. Poland - Empires How can a country who started their ESC journey with aplomb - and experimental gems like Sama and Chcę znać swój grzech - and who continue to serve in the junior contest, how can they be so almost studiedly bland in ESC these days? This is our 564th knockoff Bond tune, sung a little awkwardly and with lyrics written by a Year 8 who’s been given a creätive writing assignment where they have to use metaphors. “We’re gasoline and a match!” Wow. If it passed to the final, it would only because of loyal Poles abroad.

30. Greece - Superg!rl We leave the territory of complete dirges and enter that of songs I can sort of live with. This one’s a huge step back for the Hellenes though after the gorgeous Better love. Its odd chorus is memorable, but not for the best reasons. Its saving grace is its unintentionally humorous promotional video. A better use of those superpowers would have been to come up with a better song.

29. Moldova - Prison Remember the fun Moldova that used to bring songs like Hora din Moldova and Lautar, with some actual national flavour and flair? That’s long gone. Even the Moldova that brought terrible songs but fun stagings, like that of My lucky day, seems far lost into the fogs of time too. Another wholly unremarkable and mediocre production of the Scream Team that would be lucky to scrape into the finals. 28. Belgium - Release me Has Belgium learnt absolutely nothing in the years Blanche where the wheels of their ESC renaissance have fallen decidedly off? My feeling is no. I have to salute them to some degree for creating nice, very musical compositions, but just like in the past two years, they have forgotten to add a few key elements: some sense of progression or dynamism. This plods along repetitively on one track, one note, and that note is nice enough as background music, but my hunch is that track would have led them to another unsurprising “surprise” NQ.

27. Serbia - Hasta la vista It’s an earworm, but some earworms leave you wanting to get an aural exorcism. Somehow, some sort of collective insanity overcame Serbia and they decided to dump on their beautiful oeuvre of songs, go completely against their trend for qualitative, classical, brooding, orchestral music by instead picking a bunch of time travellers who had been a third rate girl band in Transnistria. How enough Serbians thought they’d win over Europe by going for a sound that was dated even when they made their début bemuses me. 26. UK - My last breath The UK are really soaring high in my rankings as... the last amongst the 26 songs that would make up my notional perfect final. Baby steps. I still think it’s pretty lame how the BBC tanked their own national final for this. It’s not so adventurous. It has so little to say that it’s half a minute shorter than the ESC standard and yet still consists of repetition. It has one of the most annoying chorus quirks with that beat in “my last... breath.” How did this get up this high again?

25. Albania - Fall from the sky It absolutely pains my heart to put Albania out of the top 20 after two thunderous years in which they captured my gold and bronze respectively. What makes it worse is that they could have had a perfect hat-trick, because the original, Albanian language version “Shaj” was my #1 song from December up until mid-March when they released this thin gruel of a revamp with all the things that gave Shaj some authenticity and flavour gone, and with beautiful, heart-rending lyrics replaced with cliché. Only this high because there are plenty of worse songs.

24. Czechia - Kemama I have a soft spot for poor Benny, the interpreter of this song. Ok, so it beat a field containing some vastly superior songs, but it’s nice to have a Czech song without weird lyrics about women for the first time in a while, and the way the kid was put through the ringer for his more Afrobeat-influenced revamp made me sad. For me, it gained a bit of flavour with that change. The lyrics are still poor but I like the colourful musical backdrop.

23. Israël - Feker libi 🇮🇱 Sometimes, you don’t think much of a song but the artist elevates it enormously. Such is the case with Feker libi, a bizarre pot pourri of styles with a very discordant tropical verse (which I like), mid-90s dance track chorus (which I don’t), middle eastern post-chorus and African-sounding outro (jury’s out on both.) Yet Eden Alene is so full of natural charm and exudes “I want to be your friend” that I can’t help but rewatch just because of how joyous she makes it.

22. San Marino - Freaky 🇸🇲 Speaking of atypical countries flying high in my ranking, all was set for San Marrano to take non-pride of place at the bottom of my ranks yet again, but somehow, I ended up quite enjoying their track this year. Yes, San Marino is still a weird zone where, when you descend to Rimini in Italy, you enter the new millennium, but returning up the tiny nation’s steep slopes, you head back to a time in the 70s when disko was king. This disco is fun though. In part thanks to Senhit, a sympathetic performer who deserved more in 2011, in part the lyrics - who doesn’t want to rip up the rules, write new ones and then destroy them too?

22. Switzerland - Répondez-moi It’s nice to have the Swiss singing in a national language for the first time in ages. It’s also nice that they didn’t fall back on their success with Hänni by going with a similar so-called bOp. I also really love some of the artist’s other tracks, like Babi. And I liked this a fair bit more upon first listen, but the combination of less than stellar lyrics - just a succession of somewhat emoïsh rhetorical questions; just because they’re in French, doesn’t make them deep - and a wailing falsetto have made my will to relisten to this often take a serious hit for me. A shame, as musically, it has some undoubted quality. 20. Denmark - Yes 🇩🇰 Denmark seems to be doubling down on 2019 to develop its new niche - catchy, sweet but ultimately a little overly gooey love songs. There’s always something a little bit imperfect about them though: last year it was Leonora’s serial killer-esque nervous gaze; this year, it’s the “I’m not going to even try to make pretend we’re an item” lack of energy from Tan. It’s a little bit too reheated “Little talks” but it’s decent enough.

19. Russia - Uno 🇷🇺 When this first was released, days after the deadline for submitting songs, I was pretty peeved at what seemed like a pisstake against the contest, a bizarre rehash of Aqua for the meme age. And yet.. maybe it’s the quarantine slowly driving me insane, maybe it’s the sheer infectiousness of this that just makes you want to dance, maybe it’s the epic energy of the backing singer (Rosa from Brooklyn 99’s twin) who looks like she wants to kill everyone else... but I’ve actually grown to like this enough to put it top 20. I’m not always entirely predictable!

18. Norway - Attention 🇳🇴 There’s a lot of things that tick my yes boxes with this song, like the beautiful orchestral music laid out by the famed Mørland or the simple but sincere performance. There are also things that take a Sharpie and scrawl in my no boxes too, like the somewhat whiny tone of the vocals or the adolescent and lyrics which, with their “oy’d change anyffink abaat moyself fur a boi” tone, don’t flatter the singer, and from Mørland, I expect better. There’s more good than bad here though, and it has been an earworm since the day it was selected.

17. Belarus - Da widna 🇧🇾 I don’t know what was in the water this year, but we got a bunch of great Slavic language songs, including from countries that don’t typically send songs except in English. I like the chilled out vibe and the curious lyrics. Their live version for Eurovision Home Concerts with just an acoustic guitar sounded a whole lot better, I must say.

16. Australia - Don’t break me 🇦🇺 I’m finally overcoming the horror of the bizarre clown mise-en-scène complete with ropey lyrics at Australia decides and judging this on its potential. Hands down Australia’s best entry at the contest for me. Musically, it’s strong, and lyrically, it’s compelling and very saudadic. I’m sad we won’t see what a glow-up their final staging could have provided. I really hope it wouldn’t have involved clowns, which seriously tanked the song in my ranking for months, no joke.

15. Portugal - Medo de sentir 🇵🇹 A Portuguese entry outside of my top ten? Given their form with me since 2015, this might seem like a harbinger of the apocalypse. I still like it quite a bit, but there are stronger songs this time. It’s heartfelt, the lyrics are powerful (about being afraid to feel again after being hurt) and the melody is pretty. The live was a bit cagey especially because of the not particularly well synchronised voices of Elisa and the pianist, who composed the song. Still a very nice song and it is great to see Portugal staying faithful to its language, but I can’t help but feel sad that songs more in line with its riskier, more trailblazing previous few years. Passe-partout or Gerbera amarela do sul would have been in my top 3 like last year.

14. Latvia - Still breathing 🇱🇻 If you told me in January that not only would this song not be disliked, it’d also end up in my top 15 of the year, I’m sure incredulous laughter would have been the most polite response you’d have probably gotten. And yet - the song I couldn’t stand in Supernova has won me over and I do want to see Samanta Tina return for 2021 since she evidently cares so deeply about ESC so is pretty much one of us. I’ve come to love the weirdness of the track - real meat and gravy given the number of anodyne tracks - the iconic pre-corona hygienic leitmotif of its staging. ST’s joie de vivre and command of the stage. It’d be a guilty pleasure except I don’t feel guilty for it.

13. Georgia - Take me as I am 🇬🇪 Georgia once again are dancing to the beats of their very anarchic drummer and I love them for that. This thinly veiled swipe at both the Big 5 coasting in mediocrity and at narrow-minded fans’ reäctions to Georgia’s extremely varied oeuvre just hits the spot for me. I love the musicality of it, the dark electro-rock vibes, Tornike’s voice and how it blends perfectly with his captivating backing singers. I always vote with my feet for something different in an era where people are aiming to qualify with safe and bland rather than taking risks.

12. Romania - Alcohol you 🇷🇴 Roxen provided one of the most iconic moments of the season by deliberately tanking the ordained bop amongst her national final songs. Her eventual song is one of the most emotional of the year, and also one of the most surprisingly literary: there are tonnes of nuances, allusions, wordplays and so forth in this text, most of which are a lot more graceful than the titular terrible pun. I humbly put it to folk who thinks that this romanticises alcohol that they are missing the point - it’s instead being used as a metaphor for toxic relations which, by the end of the song, Roxen has broken away from. I love her voice, I love the music. It fell briefly out of my affections because of the weird mini-revamp, but it’s risen again.

11. Ukraine - Solowej 🇺🇦 It’s fabulous to see Ukraine singing a song entirely in their language and I hope this trend continues across the Slavic nations like was notable this year. The timeless folksy elements mixing with modern beats makes a curious and entrancing blend, delivered with aplomb. It takes where Poland 2019 went wrong and puts it right. I could have done without the unnecessary revamp, but it’s still one of the year’s freshest cuts. Well done, Widbir!

10. Slovenia - Voda 🇸🇮 In an age where the likes of Albania is stripping away all the beautiful orchestral flourishes of its entry to make a pared and muted revamp, Slovenia went full throttle in the opposite - and in my mind, right - direction and made one of the very few good revamps of the season. Performing with the Budapest philharmonic orchestra, Ana Soklič, who, for my money, has one of the best female voices of the year, unleashed the cinematic, sweeping beauty of Voda. I think this would have surprised many people by doing quite well. On musical and vocal merit alone, and adding to that the subdued saudade of its lyrics, it deserved a lot more love.

09 Malta - All of my love 🇲🇹 In 2018, I would have sooner said that it was more probable for me to have become Grand-Duke of Luxembourg than it was for me to have loved a Maltese song, let alone two i n a r o w. I didn’t expect much of this at all, because I expected we’d get a wailing vocal exhibition, as Ian used to say, focused on exhibiting Destiny’s range rather than giving her a genuinely good song. But this is a genuinely good song. Once again, I love for the gospel edge it has, and Destiny’s vocals soar to impressive heights, without feeling unnatural or ostentatious. I should have known to expect good things with the regal Cesár Sampson on board.

08 Lithuania - On fire 🇱🇹 Prior to this year, few people had any hopes for Lithuania’s long-winded national final selection process. The idea of it being must-watch viewing when there were many other more compelling choices on offer was hilarious. In 2020, that changed. They changed the name to the hilarious but hopeful “Let’s try again”, had a number of fantastic songs, and became one of the most diverse and qualitative highlights of the NF season. The eventual winners, The Roop, deserved the accolade with this cool, super contemporary track with a brilliant dance routine and a genuinely important message about not giving up on yourself.

07. Sweden - Move 🇸🇪 At MF this year, the Swedes put a match to its protracted ‘cocky fuckboi with polished, soulless overproduced pop song’ era, hopefully for good, with an all-female top 4. I will always lament Dotter missing out narrowly, but I’ve still been brought plenty of joy by the radiant Mamas with their fabulous hand-choreography and genuine warmth, and this song of resilience through the tough times. I love gospel-tinged music and this really makes me smile.

06 Ireland - The story of my life 🇮🇪 Before this was announced, I heard Ireland’s track being compared to the oeuvre of pretty much every major 00s female pop star. I was quizzical, but upon hearing it, could see why. In a year with a lot of beige, this is just one big orange and yellow blast of colourful late 90s/early 00s nostalgia, hope, resilience. The kind of anthem I never knew I needed but came right on time. I can’t listen to its wry, conversational lyrics without wanting to dance along. And Lesley Roy herself is an icon. My favourite effort from Ireland since Playing by numbers, and I really hope she returns in 2021.

05 Finland - Looking back 🇫🇮 I’ll never forget a mural in the part of València where I used to live that said “we’re not different for the sake of being different”, and that could sum up my attitudes to Eurovision. Whilst it seemed almost everyone was behind Cicciolina in Finland, I had scant hope for my favourite, and was blown away when it actually did win. This melancholy meditation on the passing of time and people - “we never know what we have until it’s over and we’re looking back” - became emblematic of this year for me and added to what was already a really poignant and moving track. I love the musical style too and the smoothness of Aksel’s voice and how it contrasts with his evident awkward shyness. It has moved me so much that it had to end up top 5.

04 Croatia - Divlji vjetre 🇭🇷 I always will represent and bring love for the Balkans and their adhesion to their musical traditions. This was one of the most pleasant surprises of the NF season for me - I was expecting very little from Croatia, and instead, it greeted me with this beauty. You have the understated classic grace of the music, the exquisite melancholy and poeticism of the lyrics, and one of the finest male vocals of the season. My favourite Croatian track in almost 15 years.

03 Italy - Fai rumore 🇮🇹 Sanremo isn’t just a national final, it’s a cultural experience that digs into your heart over the course of a whole week. This was one of the most memorable I have followed yet - and what a truly deserving winner. It’s just another example of the seemingly endless supply of heartfelt tunes by classy, sincere performers that Italy has on tap, with one of the best lyrics of the contest and the extra level of poignancy from how the lyrical theme of isolation would come to represent us all.

02 Iceland - Think about things 🇮🇸 One of my nerviest and happiest moments of the entire NF season was seeing Daði Freyr and friends win Söngvakeppnin in Iceland. As much as I loved Svala’s Paper, I had also adored his song three years prior - the delightfully awkward and similarly irrepressably earwormy Is this love. And now he was back with a groovy, fun, heartwarming tune about fatherhood that has only continued to grow in my estimations. The bridge still full on gives me goosebumps. It’s the kind of song that just makes me marvel at being human and being on this earth.

01 Netherlands - Grow 🇳🇱 My top few songs are all very closely entwined so much so that they could be considered joint winners, but I’ve been pretty unequivocal ever since Shaj got torpedoed by its revampire: silver turned to gold and my previous 2nd place, Grow, became my new favourite. I love the heartfelt, sparsely poëtic, bravely confessional lyrics. I love the way that it goes from something minimalist and intimate with just organ and voice and slowly builds upon the hints of gospel to something truly anthemic. Such a meticulous arrangement where there’s not a single sound out of place. This song is pure art and, like Soldi, Mall, APD and all those preceding songs which had the magic of being my personal favourite, it moves me upon every listen.

#eurovision #eurovision song contest #esc 2020 #opinion #eurovision 2020 #esc

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lolacouldnotcareless · 5 years ago

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Tagged by this sweet @isthisatlantis, thank you dear 🧡🎶

Rule: you can only repeat one artist and only one time, so we can all kind of spread new music to the people we tag. Try to listen to at least one of the songs people rec here.

1) one song you loved the first time you listened to and never got tired of?

warmth - bastille (orchestral version)

2) one song you cry every time you listen or makes you emotional?

love of my life - queen. it’s ridiculous. i still get teary, and there’s still, you know, something blocked in my throat when i sing it for goddamn’s sake. i’m not even in love (to my knowledge, which doesn’t say much), never have felt as strongly romantically speaking for someone else. and here i am, tears streaming down my face, feeling as if i had been broken in so many tiny pieces. that’s why i’d like to slow-dance in the arms of my partner (who hasn’t made theirself known to me yET) (what do you mean i have to be social pls don’t) on that song. (yes i’m single and all i want is to be held and to hold someone in my arms and just be at peace with each other. damn i feel pitiful. you know i half regret writing this bc it’s so close to my heart but if i erased everything now i’d feel strangely dishonnest so can we ignore this and go to the next song thanks)

3) one song that always makes you happy/smile?

hope world - j-hope. i tried but i literally couldn’t think rn of any other song that, despite the smile, didn’t make me go ouch at the same time, as in this example: 曲尽陈情 / qu jin chen qing - xiao zhan.

4) one song that you would dedicate to your best friend and/or your family?

maisie peters - take care of yourself (acoustic version).

5) one song with a production (the sounds, the beat, the mood) you love?

the night before - hooverphonic

6) one song with perfect, amazing, outstanding lyrics?

l’assasymphonie - mozart l’opéra rock. listen. i’m not a fan of how french generally sounds when sung. but. those lyrics. not only they’re actually well-written, they actually sound good. i once spent a whole evening/night analysing the structure and sounds of the lyrics as one does, just to understand why it sounded so good to my ears. and there are so many songs that i love the lyrics from, that i think they are outstanding in their meaning and construction, but few things can top a french song with well-written, well-structured lyrics that are a real pleasure to listen to. (bts absolutely can but i need them elsewhere) well all of that to say that it’s nice to have good lyrics but they need to sound beautiful too lol. i’m sorry for rambling so much on that matter. it’s just the literature student who has two classes dealing with poetry this semester jumping out. if you need a translation hmu lol

7) one song that you would recommend to anyone?

lullaby for a cat - epik high (unedited version)

8) one song you don’t understand why you like so much but you do anyway?

fire - wang yibo. i don’t understand. still the first song i listen to while house cleaning or some shit. still singing it at the top of my lungs. still don’t understand why i like it so much, he has better songs. still.

9) one song that you think people in general wouldn’t like but you do?

marieke - jacques brel (the version entirely in dutch). once upon a time i knew it all by heart. now i’m afraid that my very small graps of dutch language has desintegrated itself because i literally haven’t used it for the last 6 years.

10) one song people normally like and you don’t like or hate?

señorita - camila cabello & shawn mendes. tbh idk if people really liked this song but i used to hear it everywhere and absolutely hated it. i don’t like anything about it. it’s visceral. can’t explain.

11) one song you would call a masterpiece?

spring day - bts. this song has everything. it’s been years and still. it still makes me emotional, i can still feel the longing, the lyrics are nothing but perfection, it’s one of the songs i sometimes sing the melody to myself without noticing when i’m simply happy. i cry, i smile. it’s so calming in a way, like a balm on a injury, on a scar. and i love the melody so much.

12) one song you recently (last 30 days max) discovered and really liked it?

迎刃 toward the blade - zhou shen. absolutely love his voice.

13) one song you listen to to get pumped like you wanna tear down the fucking government or something?

thnks fr th mmrs - fall out boy.

i tag: @sarebellion, @ivy-lavender, @theadventuresofadreamer, @rasgullaa, @ephemeralsolitude, @nurnocheinkeks, @jiminielatte, @everythiiingoes, @shadowhunterboysya, @tardis--dreams, @vtae-hyungs, @imspartawssem, @lenaferever

#tag games #dude that's fucking hard #love you and thank you tho <3 #one day i'll stop giving details and developing answers that no one cares about bUT it's not today ;p #i've tagged some of you that i don't tag usually but hey we can all use a bit of distraction; no?#if you don't want to don't do it <3 #hey btw it would be so nice and kind of you to give me some songs you like in your mother tongue #i'm curious but i don't know where to start #as you can guess i'm not particularly difficult and i'm willing to give a chance to any genre so don't let that block you #me: *trying to think about happy songs*#my brain: this bitch empty yEET #literally took me two hours to find a happy song wtf i need to sleep and drink some water and to have some kind of structure

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johannesviii · 5 years ago

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Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 1990

Well, that is a pretty terrible, not good, bad year for hit songs uh? I mean, for the kind of hit songs I like, at least.

Obviously my first-hand experience of “hearing songs on the radio and actually liking some of them” starts when I was around 3 or 4, so nostalgia will have very little to do with the first top 10 lists I’m making.

Disclaimers:

Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.

I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

I struggled to find more than five songs to put on this list.

Think about it. A pool of roughly 160 hit songs to pick from, and there’s only 3 and a half songs I actually enjoy on this list.

This is terrible.

10 - On écrit sur les murs (Demis Roussos)

US: Not on the list / FR: #20

This song is only there because the lyrics themselves are lovely and because I genuinely like the recent cover made by Kids United even though it’s Uncool(tm) to admit that in my country.

I kinda dislike that version and its singer though, and the fact I had nothing better to put in the 10th spot is sad. But. Like. It was either this or MC Hammer. Give me a break.

9 - Vogue (Madonna)

US: #5 / FR: #28

As I said before, I had a very brief Madonna phase back when she released Die Another Day.

This song was NOT one of my favorite Madonna songs even during that brief Madonna phase.

But I literally had nothing else I could possibly put in that spot.

End me.

8 - The Power (Snap)

US: #26 / FR: #83

Not my favorite Snap song (stay tuned for another list to know which one that is). Still pretty decent, and since, again, I have nothing better to put here, it will do in a pinch.

7 - Dangerous (Roxette)

US: #34 / FR: Not on the list

Basically the same thing. These two top 100 lists are pretty wretched as far as my musical taste goes, so I’ll take what I can get.

6 - Hélène (Roch Voisine)

US: Not on the list / FR: #34

Insert here rant about White Guy With Acoustic Guitar Song (c) ToddInTheShadows.

My parents listened to this a loooooot. I really, really like the melody ; shame about the lyrics though.

We’re at #6 and we still haven’t reached the songs I actually used to listen to occasionally.

5 - Les Valses de Vienne (François Feldman)

US: Not on the list / FR: #10

Back when I got my first cd player, around 2001 (it was small, round and grey, and it had a radio and a tape recorder), the number of cds I could play on it was fairly limited, and one of them was some sort of old hits compilation. This was on it. It sounded nice and passed the time nicely.

That’s apparently enough to warrant a 5th place on this list.

4 - Pump Up The Jam (Technotronic)

US: #13 / FR: #88

This is my go-to music video to link when someone asks me what the general aesthetic of the 90s was. I enjoy it a lot and I’m not even sure whether that enjoyment is completely ironic or not. And the song is pretty great too. Not as good without the visuals, though.

3 - Free Fallin’ (Tom Petty)

US: #64 / FR: Not on the list

We’ve entered the top 3 and finally we’ve reached a song that I can 100% say I enjoy for no other reason than the song itself. My father was (and still is) a big fan of Tom Petty and I really liked it when he played this song but it took me years to actually know what the title of the songs were and who was singing them. This one is one of my faves.

My favorite Tom Petty song is actually Learning to Fly, and sadly it won’t appear on these top 10 posts because it’s not on any official year-end list. Also I only found what this particular song was this year. “Only” 28 years after it came out and roughly 20 after I started to like it.

It happens, I guess.

2 - Sadeness (Enigma)

US: Not on the list (...yet. It charted the next year) / FR: #31

I love Enigma, I have nearly all their albums even if it took me years to find them, and I have this one (MCMXD a.D.) on CD, on vinyl and (brace yourselves) on a video tape containing an album-long music video. It exists. The worst part? I also have it on DVD.

It’s pretentious to the point of being funny, it’s weird, its chart success makes no sense whatsoever, and Enigma would went on to make much better tracks, but still, it’s already damn good, and it was one of the only two songs that were on my 1990 list right off the bat.

To top this one, we need something even more pretentious, grandiose and iconic.

Wait.

1 - Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode)

US: #66 / FR: #72

Was there ever any doubt this song would top this list? No. Nada. Niet. None whatsoever. Even in a better year, it would probably have topped the list anyway. The first notes are so dramatic and exciting. The whole song has this weird blue luminescence that every Depeche Mode song from this period has (probably due to the slight reverb effect but again I’m terrible at understanding music in non-visual terms) but still shines incredibly bright in the dark. The album version is great, the single version is even better. Even the music video is good. Also I’ve always been a sucker for very ‘controlled’ electronic music with repetitions because it’s visually very satisfying and this is a great example of that.

Maybe it doesn’t sound incredible to you after hearing it being overplayed for more than twenty years but it is still genuinely that good to me.

I should also mention that I first discovered it through the 2004 Mike Shinoda version, which kickstarted my appreciation for Depeche Mode through my appreciation for Linkin Park.

How much appreciation exactly, you ask?

Oh, it was only my second favorite song of all time two full years after I first discovered it.

See. No big deal.

Next up: A way better top ten.

#Johannes’ bad not good pretty terrible music lists #music #long post

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troutfishinginmusic · 5 years ago

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An album guide to Fuck

Fuck started with a limitation. If you can get past the giggly name, there’s a lot to take in. Off-kilter and slightly unsettling, Fuck is a band that falls between transgressive and heartwarming. In its brief moment of prominence in the Matador stable, the band was seen by critics as a quirky cousin to Pavement. This is selling the band short. A trip through the band’s discography shows one of the American underground’s most unheralded acts. As I go through all of Fuck’s albums I feel like I’m missing out on some kind of big in-joke. But, since there’s so little about the band out there, I wanted to try sum up its discography anyway. All these albums are pretty hard to find, luckily they’re all on Spotify.

Pretty…Slow (1996)

It’s amazing how fully formed Fuck sounds on its debut. The production is a bit shabby, but most of the songs still hold the same vaguely creepy aurora. Opener “Wrongy Wrong” doesn’t say much explicitly, but creates an atmosphere of unease that’s unique to the band. While the louder songs are performed competently, the slower songs (like “I Am Your King,” “From Heaven” and closer “Shotgun (H) Ours”) are where Fuck really shines. As the band went on, the noisier moments would be reined in a bit. Depending on your preference, this might be a downside. Pretty…Slow is a strong debut from a band that knew exactly what it wanted to be from the start.

Baby Loves a Funny Bunny (1996)

Listening to this makes you realize what Matador saw in the band. Things sound a bit more focused, while retaining the same strangeness of the previous album. “Love Me 2” and “Tired” are great examples noisy lo-fi guitar rock. The midsection of the album shows the band improving on affecting folk/country songs about misfits even further. “Part of Me” might be one of Fuck’s best songs, showcasing its talent for heart-breaking slow-burners. The back half of the album is more mixed. “Rococo” is a relatively straightforward rock song (in sound at least), while “Like You” sounds like a Nirvana outtake. “Loosened Mind” is a quirky song that employs a lot of atypical instruments (triangles?) to create something more detailed and psychedelic than usual. “Crush a Butterfly,” another great slow song, is followed by “Whimper and Cry.” What might set off red flags at first blush is actually, as far as I can tell, a song about S&M in a surprisingly sincere way. Other aspects of the album have aged worse (example: The usage of the word “retard” on one song). Baby Loves a Funny Bunny is strange album, but it ultimately made good on the promise of the band’s debut.

Pardon My French (1997)

Mass appeal? Filled with off-center bummer country, Pardon My French stands as a record that could’ve brought the band a larger audience. Strung together like overhearing a bunch of strange inside jokes that you want to understand. The songs are short and work best when taken as part of a whole. Some (like “Bestest Friend,” “Tether” and “For Lori”) could’ve found their way to alternative radio. Aspects of Pardon My French are just as affecting as more “ponderous” contemporaries like Smog and Cat Power. A great marijuana record (I hate to reducing any record to that), shifting from jokey to melancholy. French stands as a great “indie” album from the 90s. Yet it’s still a bit too scattered to be considered the band’s best work. There’s something preserved here, and throughout the Fuck’s discography, that was lost when the genre became more popular.

Conduct (1998)

There’s a certain darkness to this one. Some of the lighthearted nature of French is lost, which is surprising for a band called Fuck. Louder and a bit more unhinged, Conduct tries for something new and expands the band’s pallet a bit. It’s a fractured, drunken masterpiece that sounds more confident than French. There’s a loveliness to direct songs like “Drinking Artist,” “Laundry Shop,” “Never Comin’ Back,” “Get Over Him” and closer “Blind Beauty.” Even goofs like “Monkey Doll” and “Twist Off” are still pretty convincing. Melancholy folk/country is still where the band shines the best, though. Conduct is more like a collection of songs than a collection of interesting sketches. It’s possibly the band’s finest moment.

Cupid’s Cactus (2001)

This one loses some of the immediacy and memorability of Conduct. The opener “Glass Charms” dispels any potential sincerity with a faux-country accent part. Yet, after that point, the music of Cupid’s Cactus is even darker and slower moving than Conduct. A better point of comparison would be a more joke-y Low rather than Pavement. “Someday Aisle” is a gorgeous meditation that feels like a good companion to closing time at a bar. While Fuck was never bad at louder songs, the decision to focus on the slowcore side of its sound was a good idea. That said, the louder songs like “Awright” and “Never Alone” are still highlights and break things up a bit.

“Panties off” is a horribly depressing song about prostitution for drugs (I think), but gets across something the band has alluded to in more subtle ways on previous albums. The intention seems to be that sadness exists but there’s unintentional humor that’s impossible avoid even in the worst times. Some could read into this as mean-spirited or trivializing, but there’s something deeper and more complicated at work in these songs. This is something Fuck conveys better than say Ween.

Those Aren’t My Bongos (2003)

This might be the quintessential Fuck album. It gets its point across more clearly than the previous albums and sounds downright pretty. Those Aren’t My Bongos opens immediately questioning the audience’s uptight opinions on sex: “Does the penis offend you? Do the female charms alarm?” This might be the right disclaimer for every Fuck album. It seems like the band’s overarching goal is to create a sense of empathy and discuss the awkward parts of sex more openly. This is all done with a goofy lightheartedness to help balance the darker passages. The romantic acoustic strum of “Her Plastic Acupuncture Foot” was my introduction to the band. I’d argue it’s one of its best songs. How many bands can successfully weave a cartoon blowjob reference into something so romantic? Throughout the album some slight electronics are used as accents, working to vary the band’s sound a bit. Taking out individual moments on this one doesn’t really make sense; it definitely works better together. One that’s impossible not to mention, though, is the gorgeous “How to Say.” The song might be one of Fuck’s strangest considering how direct and sincere it is. TAMB is a patchwork of strange jokes and melancholy swirling together to make a truly unique statement. It rivals Conduct as the band’s best album.

The Band (2018)

It seemed like Fuck all but disappeared after Those Aren’t My Bongos. I was beyond shocked to see they were back together and had a new album out. This one sticks closer to albums like Pardon My French and Conduct, alternating between louder and softer songs. It’s also lighter and more jokey. “Cream Pie Patch” and “Thirsty Gnome” get closer to the balance struck on TAMB, reveling in sex jokes. It’s hard to call a Fuck album fun, but The Band definitely comes close. “Meet the Gibbons” for example is definitely sort of disturbing in its descriptions of mutilation, detracting from the fun vibe of the previous song (“Thirsty Gnome”). “Leave My Body” is a dreamy reverie of a song, leaning on the folk/country the band does so well. The back half of the album abandons the odder moments for the touching, slow-motion ballads Fuck excels at. The Band is a good example of a reunion record: A bit of a progression, a bit of a reminder. There’s something oddly comforting about that even for a band this deeply uncomfortable.

For a playlist of Fuck songs I put together click here.

#Fuck #matador records #1990s #indie rock

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bopinion · 3 years ago

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2021 / 33

Aperçu of the Week:

"You must not believe everything you think!"

(Heinz Erhardt, German humorist of the 1950s)

Bad News of the Week:

Joe Biden currently faces as much criticism for developments in Afghanistan as any other leader in the Western "alliance against terror." One could have assessed the strength of the Taliban just as well as the weakness of the Afghan government and its army trained and equipped by the West. The estimates of the intelligence services should have been questioned, diplomats should have been listened to better. The predicament of the so-called "local forces" could have been avoided. This is obviously confusing cause and effect.

It was the Republican George W. Bush (or rather the hawks around Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz) who started the so-called "war on terror", first in Afghanistan, and invented the carte blanche of pre-emptive strikes with the Bush Doctrine ("National Security Strategy"). For those interested in the background, Bob Woodward's book "Bush at War" is highly recommended. And it was Republican Donald J. Trump who signed the virtually unconditional troop withdrawal agreement with the Taliban last year, which is now being executed according to plan. To now blame the current administration for the development is ridiculous.

Equally ridiculous is the current pretense that the Afghanistan campaign was a success. After all, its objective was to dry up the retreats of Al-Qaeda and, above all, to kill Osama bin Laden. Fun facts on the side: none (!) of the 19 attackers of 9/11 came from Afghanistan, Iraq or the African Horn, but 15 (!) from Saudi Arabia, like bin Laden himself. But especially for the Bush family the Sunni fundamentalists from Saudi Arabia have always been untouchable. And where was bin Laden finally caught and killed? In Abbottabad. And that is not in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan.

According to Time the rise on Taliban would have been impossible "without Pakistan's shelter and support". Associated Press writes about the role of Islamabad that it "does permit the Taliban leadership on its territory and its wounded warriors receive treatment in Pakistani hospitals. Their children are in school in Pakistan and some among them own property. Some among Pakistan's politicians have rebranded the insurgents as 'the new, civilized Taliban.'" To understand the complex relationship between the two states, it helps to look at the history books. Spoiler alert: it's not the U.S. that's to blame, but the British.

The hereditary enmity - yes, you can call it that by now - is based on the so-called "Durand line." The British colonel who gave it its name drew a border line between the two states, which had strategic reasons but completely ignored ethnic regionality. Thus, the West's ignorance of the cultural distinctiveness of this region already has a long history. The Durand Line cut right through the tribal areas of the Pashtuns. After the Pashtuns proclaimed "their" state Afghanistan, this border was of course never officially recognized. And independence or affiliation efforts of the cut Pashtuns, often on the brink of civil war, were actively supported. In turn, Pakistan has been trying to destabilize the Afghan state with political and economic measures for almost 70 years.

What do we learn from this? It has never worked when a Western power has tried to impose its values on a colonial people, ignoring their culture and history. Not with the British in Central Asia, not with the French in Indochina, not with the Americans in Korea or Vietnam. Or before that the Spanish in South America or practically all Europeans in Africa. So have we learned that by now? I'm afraid not...

Good News of the Week:

During the lockdowns, there was a real boom in Germany to get pets. The cat was supposed to replace the missing social contacts, the dog to guarantee the possibility to leave the domestic quarantine. So not the best conditions to ensure the welfare of the creatures - pets are not toys!

The thematically responsible cabinet member, Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner, now wants to counteract with new animal welfare regulations. Thus for example the chain keeping of dogs is to be forbidden, they must get daily at least one hour free run and also the puppy raising is to become more kind-fair. And also in the zoo specialized trade more expert knowledge becomes obligatory, in order to prevent among other things that domestic animals are given into a care, which could not be animal appropriate.

In the wake of recent developments such as the ban on chick shredding, the requirement for more species-appropriate housing with more space for cows and "employment material" for pigs, and the ban on imports of wild birds, this gives me hope. Of course, these are all just (too) small steps, but at least they are going in the right direction.

Sidenote: Tonight my son gets a "vacation dog" for two weeks once again. So the requirement "at least one hour of exercise in the fresh air per day" will not only apply to the dog Tzela, but also to the prospective professional gamer... ;-)

Personal happy moment of the week:

I could listen to music all the time. And of course, in a family household, I can't ruthlessly "acoustically dominate" everyone all the time. And I like good sound quality - so 5.1 surround sound for Netflix, DAB in the car and HomePods in the living room are a must. In addition, the increasingly digitalized communication in the home office with web conferences and Teams meetings demands a good headset. The solution for everything is - of course - good headphones. So last year I did a test run for several weeks with a pair of cheap Bluetooth headphones to see if I could live well with a permanent Mickey Mouse on my head. It made sense before investing, because after all, there were more and more rumors last year that Apple would eventually merge its experiences with AirPods and Beats by Dr. Dre into its own high-end headphones.

And then they really came on the market: the AirPods Max. When I finally went to order them as a birthday present to myself, my ears were shaking: more than three months of delivery time? OMG... No wonder that in that time span (and at my age) I had at some point forgotten that yes, there was still something in the pipeline. Until I finally got them last Thursday. And they also fully met my expectations. Now I'm happy, my roommates have their peace and everyone else has something to laugh about when I'm out and about with "Apple's purse" (because that's exactly what they look like in their Smart case).

I couldn't care less...

...that possible coalition partners of the German government after the elections at the end of September are already bickering about the typical German topic "speed limit on highways". As a driver of an electric car, I hardly ever drive faster than 100 km/h anyway. I prefer to stay in the right lane "attached to" a bus with cruise control and distance radar and ride towards my exit in a relaxed manner. And the famous, equally typical German driving pleasure? I get it from the barely comparable acceleration power - with which I can overtake practically everywhere and also make most of the big gasoline-powered cars look stupid at the traffic lights. Nice!

As I write this...

...I run every ten minutes first to the basement and then upstairs to the office. In the former, the freezer is defrosting and I have to constantly wipe up the new puddle of ice water from the floor. And in the second, the system update is running on the Mac and I have to keep clicking "Okay" - or read for what feels like the seventeenth time that the next step will take "about five more minutes". Every third time I go over to the neighbors, whose cat I'm taking care of for the weekend, to see if the madam has deigned to show her face, so that I can let her into the garden. Presumably the activity rings on the Apple Watch tonight will let me know I've had an athletic day.... ;-)

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angeladoeswhat · 6 years ago

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My Thoughts on “Be More Chill” OBCR

So, I have a lot to say: Overall, i love it. It’s just going to take some time to get used to. But you know what also took some time to grow on me? The Two River Recording so yeah. I’ll start with my favwite things: Here we go

I love Tiffany Mann so much, her vocals were amazing and just everything about her makes me smile.

Britton’s parts, all of them, are just perfect, like ths actually gave Jake depth unlike the Two River version, I appreciate that.

‘Do You Wanna Hang?’ actually grew on me? At first it made me a bit uncomfortable but now, with the added dialogue, i find it more of exposing Chloe’s insecurities, and Katlyn did this perfectly, balancing the angry, drunk and comedic tone.

The additions to ‘Upgrade’ made me love this song and boost it super high up on my favorites list, these changes were smart. Jake & Christine’s dynamic is interesting too, a good type of interesting. I just wish there was still somehow the “C-C-C-Come on! Jeremy can’t you see?....” part. It was catchy.

‘Sync Up’ is a good song both with the music and the exposure of the cast’s personalities & insecurities. It makes one relate to the character or understand a character more.

I swear Michael was high during ‘The Play’. And if he is, I love it. It makes his whole “Michael makes an entrance!’ so much more understandable.

Jer Bear is a fucking canon nickname, yes.

As much as adults may think the use of slang is too cringy or a failed attempt at “being hip,” it’s actually really accurate to how high schoolers (for me anyway) talk. I’m not joking. It’s nice to see that Joe & the crew are correctly showing the mindsets of actual teens.

Everything about Lauren Marcus’ parts were great, with Brooke’s use of French in order to impress Jeremy, since she’s under the impression that he likes French girls due to Madeline. And the connection between Brooke & Jeremy about being sick of being “Player 2″ was nice.

‘Smartphone Hour’ is still one of my favorites, it’s super catchy, the vocals are great and it’s just so funny, especially with the context of the costumes.

Jason Tam is just so awesome. At first the surfer voice annoyed me but now I kind of understand it better and have grown to accept it. And Jason’s vocals... I love him so much. That’s all there is to it.

George. George Saladbar Salazar. His obvious love for the character, the show and the rest of the cast & crew is shown even just by hearing his voice. It’s incredible how he’s chosen to stay with the show, smiling and being so grateful & humble. He, as an overall person, is simply astonishing.

I’m in love with the new ‘Voices In My Head’ because the intro sounds like a video game about to load a file and it’s the final few cut scenes. And Christine’s “You ready?” is the best.

Jason SweetTooth Williams is probably my preferred Mr. Heere. His voice has a certain element that just screams paternity. (Maybe because he IS a father, I’m not very sure about Paul Whitty, I don’t keep up with him unfortunately.) And the lyric change breaks my heart but in the vest way because it shows how Mr. Heere finally takes a step back to realize how Jeremy feels.

‘A Guy I’d Kinda Be Into’ still remains to be my favorite song. The now calmer, soft acoustic guitar gives the song a more “teenage vibe”. Like it’s just a crush to others but to Christine, she’s never felt this way before, she’s curious yet cautious.

The band. They all outdid themselves. ‘Jeremy’s Theme’ is now super haunting yet mesmerizing. Every song is just so well done and my respect for them has only grown.

Okay now we come to my least favorite things, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. These are just minor things that just stood out to me.

The biggest urk for me was the rhythm change for the chorus of ‘I Love Play Rehearsal’. In the the “Be More Chillegal” videos, the actress for Christine did the same thing and I was not a fan of it. For some reason it just rubbed me the wrong way so to hear it in the Broadway recording was a bit of a turn off, but at the same time, it somehow represents Christine’s frantic & random energy sparks.

Throughout the entire recording there were some moments where a beat of silence would’ve done wonders and other times where they weren’t exactly needed. The best example is during ‘Michael in the Bathroom’ after the whole “Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!” part where Michael says “But I can’t hear knocking anymore.” It may be just because I’m used to the beat of silence in the Two River production but I just feel like it would’ve added a nice element of build-up to the song.

While we’re on the topic of ‘Michael in the Bathroom’, it definitely will take some time to get used to it. Similar to my thing with ‘I Love Play Rehearsal’, the note difference in the line, “Michael flyin’ solo!” didn’t sit right with me. I can’t exactly pinpoint what it is. But overall I think George was able to have MITB 3.0 on par with the original which is difficult to do with anything.

Last thing, it’s Michael & Jeremy’s voices. Specifically for Michael, how it’s now higher, it makes him seem more innocent which is nice. But it also makes Michael more susceptible to certain fans just throwing him under the “Soft Boi” label, not acknowledging his struggles and growth. With Jeremy, I think Will R. is a great Jeremy because of how relatable he’s able to have Jeremy be. How obviously nervous and frantic he is, but also trying not to offend anyone or make mistakes. It’s very similar to how I, personally, am when I’m anxious or on the verge of a panic attack. My issue is how whiny Jeremy can sound at times. Not characteristically, just how he either talks or sings. There’s nothing to do about it, it’s how Will sings and it doesn’t make me love him any less, it’s just my one nit pick about Jeremy. Nobody’s perfect, fiction or not.

I still love the album but I just listened to it today so it will obviously take a couple of listens to get used to it. I hope that I didn’t offend anyone in any shape or form, that’s not my intention at all. I do not intend to bash on the album either, I love it but like anything, there are flaws. Thanks for taking the time to read my sort of professional review and have a good day/night!

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moviestorian · 6 years ago

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Album Reviews: A Night at the Opera (1975)

The band, the myth, the legend!!! Another one that I really adore.

Title Review: Represents what they were trying to achieve with the entire album, I like it overall especially because I like to spend evenings at the opera, too. 7,5/10

Cover Review: Pretty simple, clean, consistent. Not mindblowing, but very aesthetically pleasing. 8/10

Songs Review:

Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...): A strong beginning! Now, this song is harsh as hell, lyrics-wise (some lines I even personally find a bit too harsh): in this song Queen is hurt, angry, and vindictive - and the final result of those negative emotions form a song which is a great listen. I love the intro, too. 8/10

Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon: This one is so underrated! It stands in a huge contrast with the songs it’s inbetween, but it’s not any worse. I wish it was longer, because I really like the 1940s vibes it gives me! 9/10

I'm in Love with My Car: Another strong hit! I remember the first time I listened to it I was all like O.o “wtf”? But now I love it, it’s such a Roger song. The lyrics are, ekhem, interesting :P, but I really like it music wise. Roger’s vocals are fantastic, and I’ll never not be amazed by his skill of singing and drumming at the same time in live performances. Yes, I love this song unironically and I’m not ashamed of it! :D 9,5/10

You're My Best Friend: This one is really sweet! I love that John wrote it about Veronica, honestly - relationship goals. <3 It’s pretty simple but a very nice listen. On the other hand, there are so many songs in this album I just love way better, so it doesn’t stant out that much to me. It’s still a great song, though. :) 7,5/10

'39: <3333 My favourite song from this album and my second favourite Queen song of all. This song belongs to Brian (frankly, I don’t really like when Freddie sings it); he created many beautiful, beautiful songs, but this one is one of his finest. I adore everything about it - from Brian’s soothing and yet melancholy voice with a sad touch to it, Roger’s falsetto (he’s literally being the angel of music here), acoustic guitar, tambourine, double bass... Then there is the lyrical content: this song is a story, a nicely worded, nostalgic sci-fi story. The overall effect evokes so many emotions and images to me... Honestly, hats off. 10/10

Sweet Lady: Sadly, this one is my least favourite. I think Brian was really on fire with his work for this album, and in my opinion this stands out negatively. It’s not a bad song, of course, and it’s very possible that on another, less iconic album it would sound way better. I kinda like it at the beginning, but as the song goes on and on I’m getting a bit tired of it and usually want to skip. 6/10

Seaside Rendezvous: What a gem. Another one that feels like a time machine. Why doesn’t this one get more attention??? I think it’s a brilliant example of Roger and Freddie’s huge creativity and talent. Rog and Freddie doing the trumpet and woodwind sounds (and doing them so well??? :O <3)? Tap dancing? Freddie singing bits in French? Honestly, what’s not to love here? I certainly adore it. Also, it’s such a lighthearted and uplifting song. 9,5/10

The Prophet's Song: For me, one of the most underrated Queen songs, and if I am to be completely honest - I like it more than Bohemian Rhapsody. I’d never think I’m going to be able to sit through a song lasting over 8 minutes and enjoying it without getting bored (I’m not counting classical music, though! :P), and here I am! This is such a complex track, with so many turns and fascinating musical arrangements (like the fake wind). I’m in love with the lyrics, which I find very unusual and interesting. Apparently this one “came” to Brian in a dream, and I can totally feel it. It’s very dreamy. It has this sort of a psychodelic touch, and the way the moods in this song are switching really helps me to visualize it as a dream. I think this song would fit really well as a movie soundtrack, and even without the lyrics it would be a fascinating listen in a philharmonic. 10/10

Love of My Life: Gorgeous, heartbreaking, sincere. Freddie shows him great talent as a pianist, one cannot also ignore how magnificently beautiful his voice sounds. I love the combination of piano, guitar and harp. 9,5/10

Good Company: Another very pleasant song to listen to! Brian’s voice blends really well with the sound of banjo! I like the lyrics, too. But I think it’s banjo what makes me more special to me. 8/10

Bohemian Rhapsody: Multidimensional song in which the band shows off their many talents! Freddie sounds fantastic; I like the ballad segment, guitar solo and the hard rock part in particular, but naturally the overall effect is outstanding. I’m also in awe of vocal harmonies. Huge “wow” to Roger for his falsettos (I know I always applaud his vocals, but he really deserves it, in my opinion!). This song’s legendary status is absolutely well deserved, although I think it’s a bit overplayed and I personally have a few other songs which I like better. 9/10

God Save the Queen: A nice ending! The band really is a royalty. :D 7,5/10

Average Score: 8,5(with cover & title), 8,6(songs only)

#wera talks queen #queenalbumsreviews #a night at the opera

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blogaboutmusic · 6 years ago

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all the playlists !

did this a while ago, but my spotify changed so much that i decided to do it again, and also because i have a lot of new followers! thank you & thank you if you follow my playlists! Be sure to check the list out bc i have a playlist for almost every genre & mood!

● ✧･ﾟ*✧･ﾟ* existential crisis: everything i have that is sad ● 2019 ; letz getit: music i discovered so far in 2019 / music that is important to me in 2019 ● 20(18)GAYTEEN: every album that came out in 2018 (at least of artists i like) ● 20(19)BITEEN: every album that came out in 2019 (/artist i like :) ) ● 5sᴏs ; complete: i think the title says it all ● ａｌｉｅｎｓ: a mix full of alt. songs. dope. 10/10 recommend to aliens ● all of it ; alternative ?: stuff that is alt but not quite, pop punk but not quite, rock but not quite, etc! ● all of it ; emo music: EVERYTHING YOU NEED. EVERYTHING SAD. EVERYTHING ANGRY. EVERYTHING GUITAR. pop-punk punk-rock emo/rock indie/alternative ● all of it ; k-pop: all the k-pop music that I listen to, stuffed into one mix. ● ᴀʟʟ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ʟᴏᴡ ; ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ: all of all time low’s music ● angry k-pop bops: a playlist that was inspired by district 9 of stray kids ● autumn, baby: perfect songs for fall! ● back to the future: idk some albums that i love listening to that go really well together ● bandito tour ; twenty one pilots: a playlist for an upcoming concert ● b͓̽a͓̽n͓̽g͓̽ ͓̽c͓̽h͓̽a͓̽n͓̽: a playlist for my bias of stray kids! ● ʙᴀɴɢᴛᴀɴɢ sᴏɴʏᴇᴏɴᴅᴀɴ ; ʙᴛs: all of bts’ music in one playlist ● best intro's, no argue: okay but really 505 is one of the best songs ever don’t fight me on that one ● bi bops: actually it doesnt matter if you’re gay, straight, pan or bi, these all work. just bops. ● b-sides, : songs i tend to forget about because i mostly listen to other songs on the albums... but they deserve the world so there you go ● 𝖇𝖎𝖙𝖊 𝖒𝖊: kinda angry, kinda alternative. ● bon voyage: i listened to this a lot when i went to paris and when i have to travel a lot. travel worthy. ● bop that Bussy ; emo version: FAV EMO JAMS AND BOPS AND BANGERS ● bring me the horizon ; complete : all of bmth’s music ● bts amsterdam 13.10.18: SETLIST ly tour amsterdam but also europe. i miss them a lot & wanna thank them for one of my best nights ever

● calm my anxious ass: what i need when i’m breaking down & alone again ● chanyeol (っ◔◡◔)っ: a playlist for my exo bias, mostly english sung songs though ● chilly billy doobop: so nice to have as background music or for when there’s a friend over. just ever so fckn CHILL ● classical // piano: classical music, mostly piano ● current mood: songs i’m probably listening to right now (lmao still) ● daniel james howell: a playlist for my fav youtuber!!! ● daydream: my playlist with music that makes me dream for a better version of me ● ᴅᴀʏ6 ; ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ: every day6 song ever. stan talent stan day6 ● death / school mix: songs about dying & other relatable stuff for school, ha ha ● dizzy tummy: stuff i listen to strolling through the city or being in a specific trainride ● dope on a rope: no, this isn't a playlist for the growlers' song, it's old beats. ● emo & alternative: sum emo tunes! totally random *insert that one crazy emoji with the tongue out* ● energize this tired bub: upbeat tempo music that really energizes me ● energetic appleflap: playlist for a friend (that i have crush on) ● eɴᴛᴇʀᴛᴀɪɴᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴛᴏᴜʀ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀᴘᴀʀᴋꜱ: music i listened to before & after my waterparks concert + every waterparks song ever & the setlist ● ᴇxᴏ ; xᴏxᴏ: exo complete. please give us a ot9 comeback ● exploring: stuff i have yet to listen to ● fᴀʟʟ ᴏᴜᴛ ʙᴏʏ ; ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ: all of FOB’s music. can you believe i’m still emo trash? ● frickity freck!: fresh alt-ish music ● fuck me up: a ReAlLy gOoD aLterNaTiVe / IndiE / eMo playlist? ● funky dunky business: the bass in these is mostly really mcflipping good ● geez, morty: playlist for fake friends ● ɢᴏᴛ7 ; ᴀʜɢᴀsᴇ: all of got7 their music ● ɢʀᴇᴇɴ ᴅᴀʏ ; ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ: all of green day aka my fav band their music ! every.thing. ● grrr. : just metal and grunge. heavy shit ● guitars: really good guitars like guns ‘n roses & beatles and just guitars that i love??? ● guns n' roses setlist: setlist g ‘n r Europe 2017 ● halsey: indie artist, all her music in a playlist ● happy vibes: music that makes me smile!! ● hoe anthems (k-pop ver.); k-pop bops that make me go wanna hoe the heck out ● homework // calm: music i listen to when i make homework ● hug me pls: acoustic songs i wanna listen to while cuddling ● i’m a mess: a good, short playlist i- lol- unironically made when i discovered Michael Clifford had a girlfriend lmao i hope theyre happy they deserve it ● i, an intellectual: a nerd: music from movies and series i really dig ● interactive introverts: music they played and i listened to before interactive introverts ● jae = bae: this one goes out to jae, guitarist and vocal legend in the band day6 ● jazzin' away: jazz, my friend. ● j-pop ; rock 'n soul: my favourite j-pop songs!! yes, that includes all one ok rock songs. ● journal writings: i attempt to keep up a journal. this gives me vibes. sometimes a bit more uptempo, but mostly a bit softer ● judith.eliza: for a friend ● jughead's tape: for jughead jones, of riverdale ● just guitars, nothing else.: just acoustic guitars of some of my fav songs, really good for while studying i think ● k-grooves: korean r&b and indie ● k-pop ; essential jams: my favourite k-pop songs, which are quite a lot! ● k-pop ; girls: all my girl groups’ music ● k-rock ; you make myday: all my favourite k-rock songs, yes that includes every day6 song because they are just that good sorry ● last young renegade tour: music i listened to before & after my all time low concert + the setlist ● letters to you: songs that made me think of my crush. i think people can realate? ● let there be luf: some new alt, sum songs about love ● lilacskyjimin ; fav: playlist for a friend ● lone hours: in: feeling lonely? we do, too, dont worry. youre not alone. ● mama: stuff i grew up with / stuff my mother and i both like ● marina & the diamonds: apperantly she’s only called marina now? one of the best female singers i know, indie as f*ck ● ᴍᴇᴇᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ; 5sos: playlist for the 5sos concert, setlist and the songs in between! ● micmicbudgee ; fav: playlist for a friend ● mom jeans, tired eyes: mostly 70s and 80s BOPS ● ᴍᴏɴsᴛᴀ x ; ᴍᴏɴʙᴇʙᴇ: all of monsta x’s music in a playlist ● muse ; complete: all of alt rock band muse their songs ● my chemical romance ; complete: emo rock band mcr all of their music ● my youngblood chronicals: alt rock songs. the reason why i’m still fighting ● nederlandse bodem: my favourite Dutch songs! ● ɴᴇᴏ ᴄᴜʟᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴛᴇᴄʜɴᴏʟᴏɢʏ ; ɴᴄᴛ: nct complete, in a playlist ● nienisneckdeep ; fav: playlist for a friend ● nights: songs i like to listen to before going to sleep ● noa.myg: fav: another playlist for a friend ● non-english bops: jewish, french, spanish, swedish, irish and celtic music like omnia (which is partly english but i think it fits here so tough luck) ● one ok rock ; complete: one ok rock is a japanese rock band that sings in english in their latest work ● ᴘᴀɴɪᴄ! ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪsᴄᴏ ; ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ: all of panic! at the disco’s music in a playlist ● paramore ; complete: paramore was a punk rock band with a female singer, and now they make alt rock ● paris: a playlist for a city that i miss, a time that i miss ● ᴘᴇɴᴛᴀɢᴏɴ ; ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ: aka all of k-pop group Pentagon their music in a playlist ● pizza punk: waterparks, neck deep, with con and music like that. perfect for skating eheh ● power vocals: beautiful voices ! voices that make me jealous ● problems with sleeping: lovely alt songs, some of them are about not being able to sleep ● queen discography: you know that movie, bohemian rhapsody..? ● rad activist shit: end gun violence. black lives matter. abortions should be legal, pedophiles and rapists should not be able to walk free. oh and love is love, get over it. angry songs, songs about revolution. ● rainbow: love songs, some sad (rain), some ever so happy (sun). together they make a rainbow ● red hot chili peppers: the red hot chili peppers are rock band and if you dont know them, look them up!! ● revolution radio 2017: music i listened to before & after my green day concert + the setlist ● rev up my spaceship, bois: modern hard rock in a playlist! ● sad boi o’clock: another sad playlist, you can never have enough of these ● sᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ; sᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴇᴇɴ: seventeens (k-pop) complete music discography ● skylinn ; khaleesiqoyi: first playlist i made for a friend: my best friend ● slytherin headgirl: this is what the people in slytherin listen to, i swear ● socrates would deffo stan: indie and alt, only for intellectuals (i’m just kidding) ● soft; rock™: soft (old) rock ● soft; k-pop: for if you wanna weep along with exo, bts,, etc ● soundtrack of my life 🌙: the basics to my music ● space jams 🚀: most songs are about wanting to run away, perfect for when you’re in space ● spoopy rave: i secretly listen to this through the year, idec ● starry skies, snazzy beats: mostly cute beats, perfect for studying or staring at the sky ● sᴛᴀʏ ; sᴛʀᴀʏ ᴋɪᴅs !: all of stray kids songs, go stan them already and please stay ● stranger things: songs that give me a stranger things vibe ● supernatural ; rock & grunge: stuff Dean Winchester would listen to, blue oyster cult, aerosmith, black sabbath, stuff like that ● tae tae: a playlist for v of bts, one of my biases ● the 1975: an alt band, latest work: an brief inquiry into online relationships ● the neighbourhood: very chill music. kinda rap, kinda alt ● these physically turn me on: really, really good songs, or nice vocals, idk how to explain ● tits out for harambe: the closest thing i have to pop music / rap i guess, with khai dreams, frank ocean, childish gambino, ari, troye, ya know ● tokyo: a playlist for dreaming about the feeling of a city ● travel back in time: 50s, 60s music, stuff i listen to with my grandpa but also alone cuz its fun ● twenty øne piløts ; complete: all of twenty one pilots their music ● underappreciated alt songs: alternative songs that i think deserve (even more) hype! ● waterparks ; complete: nice new pop punk band that deffo has a lot of talent! ● when the week ends: a mix for the weekend ● wubbalubbadubdub: old bops that make me forget about my sadness ● year in review: 2018: music i discovered in 2018 / music that was important to me in 2018 / songs that came out in 2018 ● yoongi: songs where you can sing yoongi really clearly and songs that make me think of him ● you’re making me feel miserable: songs i listened to after i confessed to my crush and he turned me down sksksksk

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