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knightotoc · 5 years ago

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I can't really rank the SW movies, but I can sort of put them in categories. I wrote a bit about each one because I've never seen a list in an order like mine, though if you're asking me to be rational that is something I know I cannot do.

(This is really long)

1. The ones I love the most:

Attack of the Clones

🍐 favorite characters, favorite planets

🍐 my soul is anchored to early naughts high-key cheesy emo, à la Raimi Spider-Mans

🍐 most Jedi per square inch

🍐 it's pretty and it kicks ass

🍐 the romance is the A-plot for ONCE

🍐 AND it's a "dark middle chapter" that pulls no fucking punches, the whole Tatooine sequence is just hnnnnggrhhh BRUTAL

🍐 the only "dark middle chapter" in which the person explaining the Jedi way (Anakin) doesn't believe in it and the person listening (Padme) doesn't want to join but just cares about him

🍐 morally ambiguous organized religion/monasticism/chivalry are interesting and personally important subjects to me, a Catholic feminist who majored in Medieval Studies

🍐 the hinge between two time periods I love, "Obi Wan trains Anakin" and "the Clone Wars"

🍐 sets up both Clone Wars shows and both KotORs

Return of the Jedi

🐻 SO much fun, SO much imagination

🐻 like RotS, both the silliest and the most tragic in its trilogy (and imo it pulls it off)

🐻 the ending -- Luke tossing his lightsaber, Palpatine killing him, Anakin saving him -- I just -- gahhhh that's what it's all about, dude😭😭😭 It makes me love the Jedi SO MUCH!

🐻 Luke's plan to rescue Han is as bonkers as Dooku's plan to begin the war and I'm obsessed

🐻 Leia's hair down and Luke in black👌

The Last Jedi

🍸 absolute masterpiece of tragedy and hope

🍸 it's so SMART and has this wisdom that brings me so much comfort facing personal failures and societal horrors

🍸 "That's how we win -- not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love" -- Rose the Queen of Themes

🍸 the cave scene in which Luke summarizes the prequels and Rey summarizes the original trilogy is so validating

🍸 "Where's Han?" [cut to Kylo]

🍸 all the transitions but that one ^^^^ especially

🍸 best visions in the movies (Rey's mirrors and Luke's twin suns)

🍸 Yoda is the best ghost and wisest teacher as he deserves😭

🍸 Leia Vader parallels are my biggest weakness

Revenge of the Sith

🔥 I can't handle this one

🔥 it's straight up Camelot and Lancelot is my favorite invention in all of fiction, and here he is as an evil space wizard

🔥 I literally can't listen to this soundtrack and drive because I get too sad

🔥 they hate each other SO MUCH ahhgggg, NO other characters come close to this level of emotion

🔥 the Matthew Stover novelization is even more beautiful

🔥 this meta-level tragedy, the dramatic irony of a guy who has been evil since 1977, a name similar to the Greek goddess of inevitability, the swirling destiny of his "prophecy" and his doom, but still I'm like "DON'T DO IT ANI" as if he ever had a chance

🔥 they play the fucking ANH medals theme at the end of the credits and it blows my mind. Absolutely brilliant

🔥 can you believe that only RotS and TLJ have shirtless scenes in them

2. The ones I also really love:

The Phantom Menace

😈 best soundtrack. All the prequels have the most thoughtful and interesting music in my opinion, but I could go on forever about TPM's.

😈 my favorite musical piece in all of SW is the Baby Anakin theme. It's so terribly sad; it sounds to me like rivers and waterfalls. They use it several times in AotC, too. The end of the melody transitions into the Imperial March😭

😈 Duel of the Fates is the actual star of the movie, of course; the words are a Sanskrit translation of a medieval Welsh poem. Ask me about how the lyrics apply to the fates of Qui-Gon, Maul, and Obi-Wan because I've FIGURED IT OUT

😈 also the cleverest piece in SW is Augie's Municipal Band, the parade theme, which is the Emperor's theme from RotJ in major key and sped up

😈 speaking of Palpatine, this is his best movie and I've basically sold my soul to him so👏👏👏we stan

😈 I've probably thought and written the most about this movie and the time periods around it, the training of Maul and Anakin. If you can believe it😅

Empire Strikes Back

☁️ it's the best one

☁️ the "dark middle chapter" that sets the standard for AotC and TLJ

☁️ "Luminous beings are we"😭

☁️ Bespin Leia is the best look in the movies

☁️ "The evil lord Darth Vader, OBSESSED with finding young Skywalker"😂 Ani has a reason to live again, oh no

A New Hope

🤖 the only one you need

🤖 an actual piece of magic on Earth

🤖 Old Obi-Wan is heartache personified

🤖 bow down to Tarkin

🤖 best droid movie

Solo

🎲 the other kissy movie

🎲 SO much fun; John Powell puts so much energy and excitement in his music

🎲 how does this random movie have the best character designs after AotC

🎲 GIRL DROID!!!

🎲 really different point of view on the central theme of family

🎲 that cameo tho

🎲 where's my sequel

Rogue One

🌠 the most visually beautiful SW movie; it fits into the tradition of beautiful 70s sci-fi movies like 2001 and Star Trek TMP, which focus on the hugeness and wonder of outer space

🌠 can Cassian and Rose please overthrow the government

🌠 I have a real theater poster of this one in my room :D (I also have one of TLJ)

🌠 does so right by Vader

🌠 makes the Rebellion more complicated, just like the prequels did to the Jedi Order

3. The ones I don't like:

The Force Awakens

The Rise of Skywalker

I want to like them, especially TFA, but I find it difficult. I feel like they lack confidence as stories, and they don't take things like death and faith very seriously. Many planets explode, but they are grieved even less than Alderaan is in ANH. And if you just pray hard enough, God will help you out. It bothers me that THAT was the culmination of Rey's spiritual journey, versus the more relatable and dramatic endings for the male Jedi protagonists Luke, Anakin, and Ezra.

I have rewatched TFA a few times and I like parts of it, like the scavenging setting in the beginning and how handsome everyone is. Some of Maz's lines justify the borrowed plot in an interesting way. And I've thought of some headcanons to make TRoS more okay, because they did so wrong by Palpatine but not necessarily by "the Sith" as a Borg-like force of evil that, I guess, consumed him. So despite JJ's best efforts, I'm trying to make this work.

#star wars #star wars movies #attack of the clones #the last jedi #revenge of the sith #i wrote this back in December but it's still true #leaning more toward ESB rn

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corypiedra503-blog · 5 years ago

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Pop Music In America

In the beginning of last month, an excellent collection of widespread music entitled Now That's What I Call Music! Clarinet truly means ‘little trumpet' and belongs to a family of woodwind instruments. It's performed using a single-reed mouthpiece and its cylindrical form is principally responsible for the clarinet's distinctive musical notes. The tone high quality can range tremendously with the musician, the music, the instrument, the mouthpiece, and the reed. The clarinet is a simple instrument for freshmen to study. Though excessive-level players will simply recognize how tough it's to get things like dynamics, tone and tuning appropriate, if you are a beginner that sticks to perhaps a two-octave range then the clarinet is incredibly forgiving. From a relaxed and open inhalation to a controlled and exact exhale, each brass and woodwind devices can provide your lungs an incredible respiratory workout. As jazz was becoming an increasing number of popular in the 1930s and 1940 s, http://www.magicaudiotools.com another new genre was starting to develop. Many African Americans had been skilled blues musicians, however earning money wasn't simple. They formed small bands and regarded for work in low cost bars and golf equipment. But to get work, they had to attract audiences. Most young people who went to those locations thought blues was old school, so the bands needed to develop a brand new model, and what they created was "rhythm and blues" (or R&B). Rising up I never knew what type of individual I was. It at all times felt mistaken. My sister's love pop. It was my older sister who introduced me to rock. She ought to me Evanescence, and then I went on from there. Listening to Papa Roach, http://marilousorell5.wikidot.com/blog:1 BVB, PTV, SWS, etc. I'm clearly nonetheless knew at the whole thing but I do love it. Rock I noted has actual meaning within the music. Talking about real things. King Park by La Dispute is one in all my private favourite talking about a drive by and the way a child was shot within the process. As a substitute of 'boobs' and 'butts' and 'intercourse' in songs these days. Or Taylor Swifts break up songs. "WFMU's programming ranges from flat-out uncategorizable strangeness to rock and roll, experimental music, seventy eight RPM Data, jazz, psychedelia, hip-hop, electronica, hand-cranked wax cylinders, punk rock, gospel, exotica, R&B, radio improvisation, cooking directions, classic radio airchecks, found sound, dopey name-in shows, interviews with obscure radio personalities and notable science-world luminaries, spoken phrase collages, Andrew Lloyd Webber soundtracks in languages apart from English as well as Country and western music. Artists similar to Zeebra and DOUBLE had been performing Japanese flavored hip-hop since the 90s, however it wasn't till the 21st century that the sound really took off as a legitimate sub-style of J-pop. Utada's perchance for American-primarily based RnB in her earlier music seems to have performed a giant part in popularizing RnB in Japan, though many other artists labored to get its notice as effectively. Duo Chemistry specifically enjoyed success in 2001 with the release of their album The Method We Are which offered over 1,000,000 copies. Around the similar time EXILE made their debut and went on to promote hundreds of thousands of copies of their singles and albums whereas establishing themselves as faces of "J-City". People may consult with some or all of a small group of categories when utilizing period as the factors for a music style. These include Early Music, Medieval Music , Renaissance Music, BaroqueMusic, Classical Music , Romantic Music, and 20th Century Music. The definitions of those musicperiods are open to interpretation. For example, the Classical period could be outlined as lasting from 1730 to 1820 or from 1750 to 1830. Others might say that it began within the late 18th century. All of these interpretations are current as we speak. I agree with Bell this article looks like it has good intentions from somebody obsessed with music, however it came off as extremely bias and elitist sounding. I think in the event you took the time to immerse yourself in the genre rather than make knee jerk reactions of just stuff you hear on the radio it would have made for a better goal dialog. The arguments seemed form of flawed and put more emphasis on style in comparing different genres to it, reasonably than qualities contained in the style that could be good or unhealthy depending on your perspective.

This music video got here into the world before the glory that was Newlyweds (also called America's greatest actuality show of all time), so we're stuck with a music video through which Ali Landry frolics with all four members of ninety eight° in turn, however Nick Lachey has always been the beta-testing prototype for Channing Tatum, in order that makes up for the dangerous-joke plot twist on the finish. Also, I'm prepared to guess good cash that roughly seventy five% of late-90s couples had their first wedding dance to this song.

This may disappoint you OP however music selection actually is seemingly arbitrary (really it isn't arbritrary at all it is causal and coincidental): it's solely based mostly on the emotional state you occurred to be in if you heard the music (why it is so rare to love a whole album as effectively) in addition to the feelings of the PERFORMER as they were enjoying the music. Moreover there may be easy elements like particular sounds evoke particular base emotions (pleasure, fear, affection, lust, or just positivity negativity and neutral states should you want). Any track heard in a sure (naturally squirted not deliberately manipulated) temper state can then be reheard to reawaken the neural pathways being engaged on the time the track was first heard (or second time if sufficient neural pruning occurred between when. You initially heard it and the subsequent time). For every style, nine to twelve prime examples of songs are listed. Each time the genre title lists two or more distinct genres, the examples can be divided amongst these genres. These examples usually are not at all times probably the most properly-known songs of their respective artists or the primary inside the genre, however quite becoming references for the style traits. Although it is perfectly doable to place the identical artist in two totally different genres, this never happens on musicmap to allow a larger range of artist examples. Songs are deliberately chosen as an alternative of albums or artists, as these hardly ever may be fitted into one style class.

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vxlinor · 6 years ago

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Tagged by @swageki-ken (thanks b)

Rules: Answer 21 questions and then tag 21 people who you want to get to know better.

Name: Laurel🌿

Nickname: none?

Gender: gal

Zodiac: Cancer

Height: 5’6”/169cm

Time: 3:30

Favourite Musicians: P!aTD, SWS, CNCO, ABBA, Two Steps from Hell, A bunch of composers bc I listen to movie soundtracks more than actual music

Song stuck in my head: Sigh No More from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing

Last movie I saw: Howl’s Moving Castle I think

Last thing I googled: “KClO3 oxidization” welcome to the life of a STEM major

Other blogs: The only one I really use is my art blog @ithloria

Do I get asks?: Nope, I’m not interesting enough for that

Why I chose this username: I’m really into Tolkien stuff and I was named after one of the two trees of Valinor so...yeah

Following: 200

Amount of sleep: 6-7 hours on weekdays and like 9-10 on weekends because I’m a tired bytch

Lucky number: 5

What I’m wearing: Currently, my costume for Much Ado About Nothing (Renaissance attire) because I’m writing this whole thing backstage mid show.

Dream job: Forest entity...or a NASA engineer

Dream trip: Greece or New Zealand

Favourite foods: rice and beans, French omelette, mangoes, pan au chocolat, guava pastries, and pretty much anything with avocado.

Instruments: I used to play guitar but now I can’t play shit so I sing instead

Favourite Songs: , Lothlorien from the LoTR musical, Africa by Toto, Icarus by Bastille, My Petersburg from Anastasia, Why Did it Have to be Me? by ABBA/Mamma Mia

Tagging: @leaf-noises-kshksh @sapphicallura @webbykid and other mutuals who want to do it

#rambles #idk if its actually tagging ppl or not because tumblr mobile is being weird :/

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benvantasopinions-blog · 7 years ago

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I Have An Opinion On - Gossip by Sleeping With Sirens (2017) + The “Praise Everything” / Fangirl Mentality First off, I’m sorry the album cover photo is used is low-res. It was literally the only clean, full square version of it I could find and it was tiny. Let me say that I am by no means a die-hard Sleeping With Sirens fan. My first exposure to them was Kellin Quinn’s feature on Pierce The Veil’s “King For A Day”, and I enjoyed Kellin there, so I decided to give his band a few listens. While I have heard songs from every SWS album, to this day I have never given a full listen to any album besides Gossip, and if you were to ask me what my favorite release from them is based solely on what I’ve heard, I would say their 2012 acoustic/soft rock EP “If You Were a Movie, This Would Be Your Soundtrack”. With that being said, I have ZERO problems with a band trying out new sounds and going in different directions, and I will always praise an artist for doing a good job with that. Bands like Paramore and Bring Me The Horizon have both changed drastically from their original sounds, and while they are releasing more accessible music now, the musicality, song/lyric-writing, and overall quality is still good. However, there are bands that want to change their sound, but when they do the end product ends up being a mess due to things like not having enough studio time, too much label interference, intentions of making a cheap cash-grab, or artist misdirection. Some notable examples of this recently include All Time Low with Last Young Renegade, Fall Out Boy with their past 4 albums, Mania being the most recent/horrifying, and Sleeping With Sirens with their most recent album, Gossip. This was originally going to be a full-length review of Gossip, but after giving it a few spins and coming to the conclusion that it is boring as sin (in my opinion), I decided to change things up a little. FANGIRLS AND THE “PRAISE EVERYTHING” MENTALITY After surfing through YouTube reviews and seeing some of the critical backlash this album received by fans, I decided to shorten my review of the album in order to put something alongside it. I have seen some absolutely strange and straight-up delusional defensive arguments about this album, and they inspired me to talk about the “Fangirl Mentality” that bands sometimes achieve. This is a phenomenon in which extreme fans of an artist/art will defend said artist/art with an iron will, deflecting any and all criticisms thrown it’s way. With that said, please understand that this is all a magical thing called an OPINION, and just because my opinion differs wildly from yours, doesn’t mean you have to arm yourself and go to war with me because I don’t enjoy something as much as you do. We would be an extremely boring species if we all enjoyed everything to the same extent as each other. Also, keep in mind that this is not a Sleeping With Sirens problem, this is an artist problem as a whole. I have seen many people try to make reaching arguments about albums that they think are immune to criticism, even about artists that I love. I have seen a fair few people try to defend Avenged Sevenfold’s debut album as the greatest thing they’ve ever released, despite cringe/badly aged lyrics and some songs just being structured horribly, and most of these arguments come down to, “lol it’s heavy af bro”, which is absolutely obnoxious since heavy = / = good. You do not have to defend everything, and to praise absolutely everything an artist does just because you like them is a mindset that leads to artists, and therefore art as a whole, becoming lazy since they know whatever they put out will be adored. If Kellin and crew are proud of Gossip, that is completely fine, and I wish them all the success in the world, but criticism is criticism, and to ignore and blow it off will only hurt the art that is created in the long run. That being said, let me go into my short rundown of Gossip. THE (SHORT) REVIEW Gossip was released on September 22nd, 2017, and within days of it’s release I saw reviews of it on the internet (more specifically, ARTV’s review of it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXALzUmgIyQ) that blasted it for being an absolute mess. I, being remotely curious, decided to give it a spin since I had not listened to a full SWS album before, and good lord did I regret it. I won’t lie, it starts off surprisingly strong, as the opener title track is pretty good (despite there being some weird effects on Kellin’s vocals in the chorus), and “Empire to Ashes” being an alright song, but when the third track and lead single “Legends” hits, it all goes to shit. I will say that I’m somewhat proud of SWS for having one of their songs chosen to represent America at the 2018 Olympics, but that does not make this song better. “Legends” is one of the infuriating songs I’ve ever heard, as it is a shitty rip-off of an already shitty song. I never liked Fall Out Boy’s “Centuries” to begin with, so I have no clue how I’m supposed to enjoy a less-bombastic yet still scarily similar version of it. All throughout this album are these vocal effects that just confuse me, and for me they genuinely take away from Kellin’s voice, and this album just gets more boring as it meanders along despite some songs on here having some good instrumentation behind them. “Trouble” has this really annoying drone effect the whole song, and then “One Man Army”, “Cheers”, and “Closer” just feel like repetitive punches in the dick, “Closer” especially with this weird, “almost, but not quite country” feel that it has. “Hole in My Heart” is kind of a pickup, I guess, but it’s not enough to like, draw my attention. “I Need to Know” however, does manage to pick itself up enough for me to notice it, but then the penultimate track “The Chase” kinda fizzles it back out. The closing track “War” is literally just there, that’s all I can say about it. It’s not special, it’s not horrifying, it’s literally just a song that exists that you can listen to. I’ve given this whole thing about three or four full listens, one of them being solely for memory purposes as I write this review (SHORT) FINAL THOUGHTS I’ve given this whole thing about three or four full listens, one of them being solely for memory purposes as I write this review, and I’ve ultimately come to the conclusion that Gossip is the absolute worst kind of album. It’s not disgustingly bad, nor is it god-fucking-awful, but it’s definitely not good. It’s boring and bland to the point where it completely kills my interest in it, and I’m amazed that I can even walk away from it still having a song or two memorized in my brain. SCORE - 4/10 BEST/LESS BAD TRACKS - Gossip (seriously, this song is very good), I Need to Know, and I guess Empire to Ashes. WORST TRACKS - Sweet fucking hell, the rest of the album is boring but if I had to pick the worst offenders, they’d be Trouble, Closer, and the nightmare that is Legends.

#sleeping with sirens #gossip #album #review #pop #pop rock #bring me the horizon #paramore #fangirl #opinions #if this was a movie #experimenting #pierce the veil #kellin quinn #jack fowler #nick martin #justin hills #gabe barham #criticism

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marybeatriceofmodena · 7 years ago

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The Last Jedi - a review (part 1 of 128390, probably)

WARNING: This review is not spoiler-free. Read at your own risk.

So... I saw TLJ last Friday, guys. My review... will come in separate parts, for the simple and good reason that in the last few days, I wrote something like 10k words about it, and I’m not even done yet. I shit you not.

I’ve only seen TLJ once, so far, but I feel like I need to see it again, because it’s some pretty multi-layered stuff. Overall... I liked it. I don’t love it, but I liked it, and strangely enough, even if on the other hand, I LOVED TFA despite all its flaws, I’d put TLJ above TFA. But as I said, I need to see it again.

Going onto the technical stuff... I’m glad I made a big movie marathon of all SW films, because… TLJ feels different from all of them, from a stylistic point of view. The OT was very simplistic in its filming, ANH in particular, mainly because of the Kurosawa influence. The PT was also that way in intimate scenes, except in the grandiose ones where you had CGI extravaganza.

TFA… had a very “polished” and “shiny” feel to it, lens flares and all, but that’s JJ Abrams’ style. TLJ... it really felt like an indie movie. Which isn’t surprising, considering Rian Johnson is directing. There were a lot of types of shots used that you don’t usually see in blockbuster movies, but mostly in indie films – beautiful shots though. There were A LOT OF CLOSEUPS, to the point it was distracting, but the acting was pretty dang good, so it made up for it.

And when I say the acting is good, I mean it’s REALLY REALLY FUCKING GOOD. Best acting I’ve ever seen in a Star Wars movie, ever. I can’t think of a single weak performance.

The pacing was… meh. Sometimes, it worked. Sometimes it felt choppy, and sometimes, it was just bad. The fight against the Praetorians was cut at least twice while it should have been one big scene, and honestly… Finn and Rose’s mission is supposed to be this big race against time, but we never get that feeling? It may be due to the fact we get cuts to Ahch-To and that it really looks like time doesn’t pass at the same speed as it does elsewhere (which would make sense, considering how varied the time for planets to orbit around their suns can be), but it still felt off.

And that’s basically just one of the reasons why while I think TLJ was better than TFA when it came to managing the timeline (because jeez, TFA was SO fast-paced), but when it came to how the scenes were cut, TFA’s got the upper hand, ESB was a superior movie because while the timeline was a wee bit sloppy, the pacing was PERFECT, and it made you forget about that.

I liked the soundtrack for TLJ better than for TFA. The only memorable music for TFA was Rey, Kylo and the Resistance’s themes. In TLJ, the soundtrack was a lot more present, and it sounded great. Just my opinion, though, and I haven’t listened to the whole thing, yet.

The only time I didn’t like the humor was when Finn was walking around the Resistance ship in his suit, with bacta spilling all over the place. Like, him getting out of the tank was funny, and it’s probably going to become a reaction gif to “Me getting up in the morning late”, but him walking around with bacta spilling was just cringe.

The rest of the humor was fine. Pretty much every funny thing with Luke made people in the theater laugh (I mean, come on, Luke wiping his suit after getting shot on by twenty-something canons probably had Padmé’s Force ghost screaming), Chewie and the porgs were funny, and… I get it why some people wouldn’t like Poe teasing Hux, but it’s in character for him (“Who talks first? You talk first?”), and Hux just takes the bait, which makes it even funnier.

Seriously, if Kylo REALLY wants to drive Hux crazy, he should take some lessons from Poe.

Also… I’m going to say this, and I know some people are not going to like it. This is not about managing your expectations: personally, I hate it when people do that. This is about a feeling I’ve had about TLJ for a long time…

Thing is, deep down, I knew that every single faction in the fandom would be disappointed, somewhat. Technically, guys, Reylo has won. Finnrose has won. Reywalker and Rey Solo have been buried for good. But of course, the execution isn’t perfect, or it isn’t what we expected. And as some other people have said, it’s basically the ideas of an entire community of people versus one man, who wrote his script when TFA hadn’t even hit the theaters yet.

Also… I’ll be honest here (and note that this is VERY, VERY personal): I don’t get the hype. Sure, the movie was decent, but apart from having Luke die, there was nothing shocking or groundbreaking in the movie. The only thing that was controversial was the reveal that Luke made an attempt on Ben’s life, and that’s it. I can’t figure out for the life of me why Daisy Ridley was so worried about how Rey would be received, apart from perhaps the complaint that she dared to have potentially dirty thoughts about the bad boy. Whatever new Force lore we got was “crazy” sith we never saw in movies but isn’t that great if you’ve played both KOTOR games.

The only “new” thing was the Force Bond, and the Reylo scenes just went by really quickly and were cut by overly long Resistance scenes. Ugh.

If they’re keeping the Force lore for IX (though I’m not putting out much hope for that, at this point), I can’t believe they thought giving that task to people like Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly was a good idea.

I’m gonna say one thing, though: I really, REALLY can’t wait to hear Rian Johnson’s commentary on the movie now that it’s come out, because to determine whether TLJ is really a work of genius or not, it’s going to depend on the following:

Basically… when I came out of the movie, I was furious. I was furious not because some of my headcanons were crushed, because I fully expected that to happen, but because of Kylo Ren.

Yep, that stupid asshole.

I was furious because everyone in the movie acted like an idiot. Everyone, except him, Rose, and Holdo. Rose and Holdo weren’t idiots because they’re flawless, Rose because her heart goes to those who are weaker or more miserable than she is, and thanks to her sister’s example, she knows what self-sacrifice is; Holdo, because she cares for her people as a leader, and she’s willing to sacrifice herself to save them all.

Kylo was by far the most pragmatic person in the entire movie. And that’s saying something, because he was such a big freaking Galactic Idiot at times.

I was furious, because I felt cheated. I was furious because I was left with the impression that I should be cheering for the Resistance, but I didn’t feel like it at all. I felt like yelling at Luke, at Leia, at Rey, at Poe – EVERYONE.

And who was I rooting for in the end? The beautiful, awful mess that was Kylo Ren.

If I’m supposed to root for the Resistance, Rian, I don’t understand why Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm absolutely wanted to give you another trilogy to direct, apart from the reason that you seem like a really nice guy who’s easy to work with. And I say this as someone who has some massive respect for you as a person.

But if your intention was for me to be angry at the people who are supposed to be the heroes and have the villain as the most sympathetic character…

Congrats, Rian. You’re a fucken genius.

#BEFORE YOU SEND ME ANGRY MESSAGES/REBLOGS/SALT #WAIT FOR THE REST TO COME OUT #star wars #the last jedi spoilers #tlj spoilers #rants and reviews #reylo #just in case

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themousai · 5 years ago

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Top 10 Albums of the Decade: Helena Olivia

Let’s Cheers To This Sleeping With Sirens

[2011]

During the end of 2010 and start of 2011, I had to experience some things I never thought I would have to experience in my entire life time. I didn't quite know how navigate all these new experiences, so this album and the music released in 2011, was a huge form of therapy for me. I couldn't really voice my emotions and thoughts as I didn’t have the confidence or vocabulary, so I let the music help me out on that one. I really dig the pairing of smooth vocals from lead singer, Kellin Quinn, contrasted with some heavier, more post hardcore melodies and vocals within each track. Perfect music to jam out and/or cry to in your room when your 13 or 23.

Top Tracks: Do It Now Remember It Later, A Trophy Fathers Trophy Son, Tally It Up Settle The Score, Your Nickel Aint Worth My Dime, Postcards and Polaroids.

If you like: Pierce The Veil, Asking Alexandria, Of Mice & Men.

Neighborhoods Blink 182

[2011]

With the perfect balance of catchy melodies and darker lyrics, this 14 track alternative/pop punk album became my escapism during 2011. My sister used to jam a few of their older albums in the early 2000’s, and I had just found her old CD's a year prior to the release of this album. This led me to associate a lot of nostalgia and comfort with their sound. I was also finally at an age where I could relate to the lyrical material, which created a whole new listening experience.

Top Tracks: Natives, After Midnight, Hearts All Gone Interlude, Kaleidoscope, Wishing Well.

If you like: Sum 41, Simple Plan, Jimmy Eat World.

Every Kingdom Ben Howard

[2011]

You can’t go wrong with Ben Howard. He is an Indie Rock Singer Songwriter who embodies emotion within his smart lyrical content and sound. Each song he creates is a musical masterpiece along with being lyrically brilliant. Every Kingdom also uses a similar recipe to Blink 182’s Neighborhoods album which includes darker lyrical content contrasted with an opposing, more upbeat melody. This album has definitely helped me rethink my perspective on certain situations throughout the past decade and I have found it to be relevant and enjoyable consistently, even after listening to it on repeat.

Top Tracks: Old Pine, Diamonds, Everything, Only Love, The Fear, Keep Your Head Up.

If you like: Ryan Adams, James Vincent McMorrow, Angus & Julia Stone

Mayday Parade Mayday Parade

[2011]

Another emo 2011 album for the list, and not the last. This self titled album is full of Pop Punk anthems that have made it into almost all of my playlists over the past decade. It's one of those albums where every song hits hard and speaks about issues like mental health that were not so openly talked about at the time. This album acted almost like an emotional guide to my confusing year as a 15 year old. Earlier in the decade, Pop Punk, had this sort of revival and growth in popularity (tumblr, definitely being an influence there) which connected so many people all around the world. Throughout bands like SWS, Mayday Parade and Blink 182; Pop Punk was able to help listeners navigate and validate emotions that a lot of us were struggling to deal with..

Top Tracks: No Heroes Allowed, Priceless, Stay, I’d Rather Make Mistakes Than Nothing At All, Without the Bitter The Sweet Isn't As Sweet.

If you like: Sleeping With Sirens, All Time Low, Pierce The Veil

What You Don't See The Story So Far

[2013]

This next album was released in 2013, but I was a little late to the party and gave it a listen more-so in 2014. It had been the soundtrack to a lot of house parties and car jams and seemed to be influential to a lot of people in my life at the time. The album consists of 11 tracks that feature lead vocalist, Parker Cannon’s signature pop punk vocals alongside the bands strong guitar riffs and heavy beats. Similar to a lot of the earlier albums on this list, the lyrical content navigates growing up and experiencing the ups and downs of being a young adult making it damn relatable for a lot of my generation. It’s one of those albums that holds a lot of memories and is a steady contender in all party playlists within my friend group.

Top Tracks: Things I Can't Change, Right Here, Stifled, Empty Space, Face Value.

If you like: Balance and Composure, Basement, Neck Deep.

Shangri La Jake Bugg

[2013]

This record is a beautiful Indie Rock, Singer/Songwriter, album that holds the essence of British 80’s Rock with a touch of Folk goodness. There's also a great balance of up-tempo jams and mellow ballads so what more could you ask for really? This album was the first Jake Bugg record I had a listen to and was definitely not the last. Jake Bugg’s 2014 concert at Auckland's Town Hall was also the first concert that I went to, by myself. I was so nervous and just wanted to hide in the bathroom but in the end I actually had such a great time and forced myself to stay in the pit and have since attended many a gig alone without hiding in the bathroom the whole time which is honestly fucking awesome.

A few of my favourite tracks are; Slumville Sunrise, What Doesn’t Kill You, A Song About Love, Kitchen Table, Simple Pleasures

If you like: Arctic Monkeys, The Clash, The La’s.

Wishful Thinking Neck Deep

[2014]

This album introduced me to a whole new community and a whole new wave of Pop Punk. It led me to bands like State Champs, Knuckle Puck and Modern Baseball and encouraged me to get out in the local scene a little more. I had just moved to Auckland when this album was released and had a friend who encouraged me to head along to their gig at Ding Dong Lounge later in the year. This was one of my first experiences of the music scene in Auckland, and it’s safe to say it was a good one as 5 years later, I am still regularly hitting up Ding Dong Lounge for my weekly music fix. The lyrical content throughout this album really resonated with me heavily at the time too as I had just moved cities and was only 18 so the “growing pains” mentioned throughout the album hit home.

Top Tracks: Losing Teeth, Growing Pains, Sweet Nothings, Blank Pages, Candour.

If you like: Real Friends, State Champs, Trophy Eyes.

To The Sun And All The Cities In Between City Of The Sun

[2016]

We have all probably gone on a Sofar Sounds binge in the last decade, it’s truly such a good outlet for finding new music. I first listened to City Of The Sun on the infamous channel 4 years ago, so I was stoked when I heard the announcement of an album in 2016. These guys create ridiculously good genre bending instrumentals, similar to the likes of Chon and Explosions In The Sky. Their passion and pace is reflected beautifully within this debut album. It is a perfect balance between peaceful and poetic melodies alongside upbeat tempos and insane shredding. If you haven't checked them out yet, I would start with searching “City of the Sun - Intro (The xx Cover) | Sofar NYC” on YouTube and then go listen to this album for the full experience.

Top Tracks: To The Sun And All The Cities In Between, Those Days Are Now, W. 16th St, La Puerta Roja, Everything.

If you like: Chon, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Explosions In The Sky.

Chemical Miracle Trophy Eyes

[2016]

The reviews and hype are true, this album is phenomenal. It’s a great showcase of lead vocalist, John Floreani’s vocal range as he belts through heavy verses as easily as the more subdued melodic parts. The band accompanies John’s vocals with interesting tempos and melodies that keep you interested while listening to even the mellow tracks like ‘Daydreamer’. This 11 track album is super versatile and probably resonates with a lot of people due to the influence of different genres and mixtures of slow tracks and heavier beats. It’s perfect for parties, perfect for car rides, perfect for any mood at any time really.

Top Tracks: Chlorine, Counting Sheep, Heavensent, Breathe You In, Daydreamer.

If you like: The Story So Far, Citizen, Can’t Swim.

Beside Myself Basement

[2018]

If this was a top 100, I would have loved to include Basement’s discography including: Promise Everything, Colourmeinkindness and I Wish I Could Stay Here. I doubt anyone would want to read my incoherent Top 100 of the decade, so I have picked one of my favourite albums of theirs from the past decade, Beside Myself. Once again, you just can’t go wrong with a darker narrative within an album accompanied by a relatively upbeat sound. This album doesn’t mess around, it includes interesting combinations of smart lyrics which are complemented with mood matching music, creating an easy-listening and enjoyable experience. I doubt I could ever get sick of this album.

Top Tracks: Disconnect, Be Here Now, Nothing Left, Stigmata, Slip Away

If you like: Title Fight, Balance and Composure, Seahaven.

Written by Helena Olivia

[More decade round ups here]

#helena barnett #top 10s of 2010s #top 10 of the decade #sleeping with sirens #sws #blink 182 #ben howard #mayday parade #The Story So Far #jake bugg #neck deep #city of the sun #trophy eyes #basement #helena+olivia #helena olivia #helena

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ollou · 7 years ago

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Tagged by @maty-yami <33 (I listen to a lot of soundtracks :P)

Rules: List 10 songs you’re currently into and then tag 10 people you know

1. I Will Be- Florence + The Machine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhGz6BLywIo

2. Ghost- Mystery Skulls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlEb3L1PIco

3. White Blank Page- Mumford & Sons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw-ko6aINI4

4. Magna Insomnia- FFXV Soundtrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4mlF9WsZz0

5. Ravus Aeterna- FFXV Soundtrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZA5iQZEPOE

6. Touched By An Angel- A Little Princess Soundtrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ABkfd04s8Y

7. Memory/His Theme- Undertale (PianoPrinceofAnime)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvlJL-4kv8Q

8. Time’s End II- Theophany Majora’s Mask Remixed (I listen to the whole thing omg it’s so good)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTnvRoxfPk

9. When I’m Up- Bird Passengers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jAorbWASWk

10. Something I Need- OneRepublic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKCGBgOgp08

Bonus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xxQs34UMx4

#aww thanks for tagging meh #10 ten songs I listen on repeat awl the damn time #i tag whoever wants to join in

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rxbxlcaptain · 7 years ago

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I was tagged by @callioope at a time when I was conveniently attempting to avoid my own writing, so thank you for helping me procrastinate, lol!

+Where do you publish your work? "Publish” sounds a bit official, but I post my writing either here or on AO3 as Kobo! If I ever get around to publishing my original writing, I’ll probably publish it on my main blog @letthepeoplesay-oh!

+What medium/application/etc.? If I know I’m going to be sending my work to my beta, I’ll write it on Google Docs, since that’s how I’ll share it, but if I’m just going to be doing my own editing, I’ll write it on Microsoft Word since it never requires an internet connection and I can write wherever! One of my other favorite applications when it comes to editing is WritingAid, which will examine writing for overused words/phrases, find other filler words and the like. If you guys are looking for a quick editing tool, I would completely suggest it! (With the understanding that it is a machine and sometimes you have to roll your eyes at it and go “No, I want it to say that, thank you very much.”)

I’ve also some some random notes on my phone (since that’s always with me) whenever a really good line I want to remember runs through my head or if I come up with a good concept for a prompt! (The trick is remembering how I wanted to use that line when I finally get the chance to sit back down at my computer.)

+Do you collaborate with others? I can’t say that I have! I’m going to lean towards I simply wouldn’t collaborate and that has everything to do with me and little to do with other writers (because, believe me, I’ve met plenty of authors on this site that I would be honored to work with!) I’m just a bit... controlling when it comes to my work? Not the best quality, I realize, so I don’t want to subject other people to that!

+How much editing do you do before you publish? Depends on the fic, really. A lot of my prompts don’t get a lot of editing, especially if I’ve got several sitting in my inbox that I need to answer. Anything that’s a multi-chapter work (Luctor et Emergo, for example) gets literally so much editing before it’s published. I’ll hammer through chapters three or four times before they’ll see the light of AO3.

+Do you listen to music? Yep! I can’t listen to music I know well, because I’ll start dancing and/or singing along (only to find words from those songs in my writing later on) but I have about 12 hours worth of soundtracks/scores on my phone (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey... A whole, wide range) that I’ll play in the background, or I listen to salsa music, since it’s upbeat and I don’t speak the language they’re singing in, so I won’t accidentally write some of it down! (Another fun bonus with listening to music in Spanish: if I listen to enough of it, I convince Spotify I speak Spanish, and then it’ll start playing me ads in Spanish and, again, since I don’t speak the language, it’s a lot easier for me to ignore those than English ones!)

+How do you decide what to write about? When it comes to fics, I normally pick out one detail that I’d like to play with (I’m currently attempting to write a “What if Galen survived?” AU that’s a perfect example of this!) or some scenario that I’d love to see the characters in. Often, I’ll choose a plot because I really just want two characters to interact (like Jyn and Han in Begin Again or Jyn and Luke in Faith) and attempt to manipulate the environment around them to figure out how that would be logical!

+When do you write? I wish I was organized enough to have a specific time that I wrote, in all honesty. A lot of the time it’s in the afternoons when I first get home from work or in the morning when I have downtime at work. I often tell myself I’m going to write before I go to bed, but then I’ll often start scrolling through Tumblr instead and, well, that idea goes out the window.

+How often do you write? Again, totally depends. Some weeks I’ll write every single day and then some weeks I won’t ever touch my keyboard in a creative sense. Ever since I started writing for Rebelcaptain, though, I don’t think I’ve let a full week go by without writing at least something for them.

+Do you take requests? I do! I love getting prompts because I always feel more motivated to get a fic out there if I know there’s a specific person waiting for it, rather than just “Oh, I’d like to publish this sometime” (Those stories sit in my drafts for quite awhile, in all honesty). I can’t promise I’ll fill all requests or how quickly I’ll fill them, but if you guys have any prompts, feel free to send them my way!!

+Is there a genre or type of story you want to write but are hesitant to? To be completely honest, I’m a little hesitant of starting a multi-chapter fic within the Star Wars universe. One of my favorite ideas for a fic I’ve got bouncing around in the back of my head is a story where Jyn is raised by the Organas rather than Saw Gerrera, but I feel like I’m not familiar enough with the interworkings of the SW universe to write that accurately. Though I’ve loved Star Wars for most of my life, I’ve only really dived into the fandom with the last year or so. Hopefully at some point I’ll get past this, because I’ve definitely got things I want to write!

+Any inspirational quotes, videos, tricks, articles, etc that help you stay motivated? So this might be a little out of left field, but the other week I was googling when the next Game of Thrones book would be out and I found this wonderful quote from George R.R. Martin: “[The next book is] not done yet, but I’ve made progress. Not as much as I hoped a year ago, when I thought to be done by now. I think it will be out this year (but, hey, I thought the same thing last year).” For some reason, that was just so comforting to me? Because if world renowned author George Martin gets behind on his projects, it makes me feel a bit better that I’m behind on mine as well!

+Go to page 7 of your WIP, skip to the 7th line, and share 7 sentences: As proof that I am not completely abandoning Luctor et Emergo, here’s a section of the next chapter, which is focusing on Cassian’s journey at Hogwarts:

“If you were one of my snarkier students, Andor, I’d worry you were giving me cheek with that question.”

Cassian attempted to smile at the professor, but found the motion difficult. If he had done the spell correctly, why did he need to demonstrate it again for the professor?

“Andor, you just performed that spell non-verbally,” Professor Draven told him, emphasizing the last word. “Which is a skill I don’t teach until after you’ve completed your O.W.L.s.”

“And here I’d just thought I’d lost my hearing,” Kay muttered, sending his own pillow flying with a “depulso” under his breath. When Cassian shot him a dirty look, he merely shrugged his shoulders. “What? You talk quietly enough on a daily basis.”

“One of us should,” Cassian shot back.

Tagging: @thenewleeland, @jynandcassianandor, @operaticspacetrash, @leralynne, @lyresandlasers and any other writers who want to do this!

#only if you want to of course!#Thank you for tagging me! :)#writing #about me #callioope

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khangratulations · 7 years ago

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Music

I’m a bit late but thank you so much for tagging me. <3 @spirksspork rules: put your library on shuffle and name the first ten songs

[1] Garasu no namida SINCREA

[2] PHANTOM VOLTAIRE BUCK-TICK One of my favorite bands <3 (even if I wouldn’t suggest this song first I guess)

[3] Hai iro no katen SUICIDE ALI The whole album (Tainted Gallery) is so so great

[4] The Heroics of Luke and Han John Williams (Star Wars, TESB) Well, John Williams and SW soundtrack...

[5] Wanderlust Nightwish I didn’t expect to see them in here!

[6] Per un bacio Sélia (Carissimi) Their voice is just wonderful <3 This may not be obvious with this one but they’re actually on the gothic/industrial scene.

([7] Somehow I think it doesn’t count? :’) It’s a philosophy podcast I downloaded so I could listen to it on my phone without needing internet; something about Heidegger’s Being and Time aha)

[7 bis] General Grievous John Williams (Star Wars, ROTS) (ROTS soundtrack is my favorite Star Wars soundtrack)

[8] DECAYED CROW (Remix) Dir en Grey Well their remixes are almost always not the best things they made (*cough*) but I find this one to be ok/good

[9] Forever Love X Japan Ugh. Way too many feels.

[10] Reiketsu Nariseba Dir en Grey Ah, so here we finally got a better DeG song! :’) The whole album (URUBOROS) is really great anyway.

Well in short: soundtracks and visual kei. :’)

I wouldn’t really know who to tag but I too am very curious about everyone’s music taste so consider yourself 100% tagged if you’re interested!

#it was really fun to do #thanks :3 #not trek #tagged #music #op #p #visual kei #john williams #(mostly)

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profound-boning · 7 years ago

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Huge GTKM Game

I’ve been tagged in several of these over the past several months I know I’m a mess I’m sorry and I’m finally going to answer some of them!

Tagged by @thecuriouscrusader @blissfulcastiel @glowingdean @casbakespie @adoringjensen

no I’m not tagging anyone else in this monstrosity lol

Relationship status: Taken, just celebrated five years!

Lipstick or Chapstick: I wore lipstick every day when I was in college but now that I’m living with Boyfriend it’d be a big ol waste of time and money and also messy

Last Song I Listened To: uhhh the Star Wars: The Force Awakens soundtrack because I watched that yesterday?

Last Movie I Watched: lol see above

Favorite Color: Pink

Top 3 Favorite Shows: Supernatural, SKAM, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (I really need to get caught up on those last two damn)

If I had a cat what would I name it: Ooooh see that totally depends I’d have to meet them in person first

Height: 5 foot 3 and one half

Hogwarts House: SLYTHERIN HISS HISS MOTHERFUCKERS

Time right now: 17:09

Average hours of sleep: lmao like under 7 right now because I keep staying up late and then waking up early by force of habit??

Favorite number: 47

Last thing I Googled: ”where do psychiatrists work” for a fic

Fictional character you want as your younger sibling: I want this answer to be Charlie Bradbury except I’d want her to be my OLDER sibling... so let’s go with Rey (sw: tfa) or Isak Valtersen (SKAM)

Blankets I sleep with: Sheet and comforter

Favorite band/artists: Oh man lmao uh Taylor Swift, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Adele, Ed Sheeran, twenty one pilots, the Arctic Monkeys, others?

Dream trip: GREECE I want to cruise around the islands and see all the history and art

What am I wearing right now: A Corgi crop top and my new THINX undies (all y’all menstruating folk I literally cannot recommend these highly enough)

When I made this blog: THIS blog was like September/October of 2015 I think? I’m too lazy to pull up my archive at the moment. But I’ve been on and off of tumblr since 2011.

How many blogs I follow: 330ish I believe? Again too lazy to open a new tab. It’s a mix of spn blogs and multifandom ones as well as a handful of lovely mutuals :)

What do I post about: On this blog, only supernatural, mostly destiel and brothers and my tears

Pick a word that starts with the first letter of your real name and ends with the first letter of your url: sap

Do I get asks on a daily basis: lmfao no

Why did I choose my tumblr url: I looove my url more than anything and tbh it happened because I came across a text post right when I got into spn (2015) about how dean and cas need to start profoundly boning and here we are :’)

My aesthetic: hot tea brewing in the kitchen, you can see the flowers on the balcony from where you’re standing at the counter, slouchy sweater brushing bare thighs, curls falling loose from your top knot. toes in the sand at the edge of the water, wide brimmed hat casting a shadow on your nose, smiling so big your eyes crinkle in the corners, licking ice cream from your fingertips. lipstick tacky on your bottom lip, eyelashes painted dark, skirt clinging to your ass, swaying your hips to the rhythm, the room is dark and smoky, never touching anyone but relishing that their eyes are on you.

Last show you watched: We don’t have cable so I don’t get to watch shows live on tv. Last time I watched any tv show I believe was Kitchen Nightmares on Hulu!

Last book you read: tbfh it’s been a long time, I’ve been reading mostly fanfiction for a while now. I just finished reading a two part series called “all the stars above and below” a finnpoe au by AndreaLyn on ao3 here

Last thing you ate: Applesauce

If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?: This is strange question because I’m in my very nice bed and I don’t really want to be anywhere else at the moment but like in general Boyfriend and I are planning on moving to England so I’d like to be there? Kind of? Or like... sitting on a beach somewhere? Sitting next to my sister? I’m not really longing to be somewhere else so much as wanting some things to be a little different? But on the whole I’m extremely satisfied with where I’m at right now.

When would you time travel to?: lol fuck any time period before this one (modern medicine and some more rights are v nice) so I’ll say 3017 but that’s assuming tr*mp doesn’t get our entire goddamned planet fucking destroyed and also that people aren’t asshats to each other based on social constructions and institutions like gender and religion and identity and also ethnic backgrounds :’)

First thing you would do with lottery money: Pay for car repairs and for some of my sister’s university

Character you would hang out with for a day: Castiel or Poe Dameron

Pets: None because we move too much!

First Fandom I joined: Oh boy this is a good question. I was just talking to Boyfriend the other day about how Han/Leia was my first OTP before I really knew what that meant? Like watching the movies as a kid I felt in my heart like “yes they’re so good together please be happy together forever” I wasn’t on the Internet at all until 2008, and not on tumblr until 2011, and not on stan twitter until earlier this year lmao. When I started the tumblr, it was mostly disney and then avengers when it came out? This blog is my first like dedicated I’M IN A FANDOM venture.

Favorite book: I hate this question because I know someone out there will hate me for it *squints* but the honest truth is “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton it’s been my favorite since seventh fucking grade so fight me about it!!!1!

Worst thing you’ve ever eaten/tasted: Oh no this is horrible because I’m a fucking picky ass eater lmao uhhh I hate rice?? bad texture.

What class do you wish you paid more attention to in school? This is not the answer you’re looking for but I had some severe problems in my life when I was in high school so really I wish I had been able to pay more attention to everything in school. I would literally time travel back and redo it all if I could. I would have taken my government classes more seriously, gotten more into my history classes, and would have signed up for AP Art History because I fucking wanted to but I didn’t. If those problems hadn’t been there or hadn’t affected me so badly I would have gotten better grades and could have chosen something different for college. In college, I might have looked for something more like anthropology and focused more on language in a cultural and socio-historical context and not just language and teaching language. Similarly without those problems I would have been able to pay better attention in college and have gotten better grades, done more academic research, etc.

Just hypothetically, if you could get rid of one entire species and not have it screw up the ecosystem at all, what would it be? Humans :’) we’re the worst.

First foray into fanfic? How To Train Your Dragon on that fanfiction net website. I remember seeing the second film and feeling so, like, when are those two going to kiss and get married and live happily ever after? I needed that closure. Then I discovered AUs and ~lemons~ and then I was reading Frozen fic for a while(??) and finally Supernatural. Apple Pie Life by @heyacas was the first fic I read on ao3 after it was recced to me and I never looked back.

You can have unlimited anything from a magic cookie jar (item must fit in a standard sized cookie jar) with the caveat that you cannot monetarily profit from it. Like unlimited cash or things you would sell for cash. What’s in the jar? Firstly what the fuck is a standard sized cookie jar. Secondly this wording prompts me to say... cookies

What do you think about Bill Nye the Science Guy? President Nye 2020

That one book you will never read enough times? Other than the one I mentioned above I’ve read Princess Academy by Shannon Hale a million times and I love it so, so much

What’s something super popular that you just. don’t. get? This is the first thing that comes to mind because frankly there are several things that could go here but I’m answering Videos Of People Getting Hurt. Seriously. Why do I want to watch someone fall off of something or worse get pushed/tricked/otherwise manipulated into doing something I can see (or worse, hear) is painful for them? I can’t stand it.

What’s your super power? Not like telepathy (unless you really have telepathy…), but like. what’s the one thing that you’re known for? Uh... nothing probably? I’m not memorable

What’s that story you tell at parties or whatnot to impress people? I am literally the worst at parties? and impressing people? One story I like to tell is how Boyfriend and I met!

What’s the furthest you’ve ever been from home? Home is an extremely fluid concept. Right now I am about 825 miles from the house that I lived in for about 17 years, Boyfriend is at his work around 16 miles away, 5000 miles from Spain... I could go on.

Hobbies: Writing and reading fanfiction

Favorite place: Favorite beach: Lagos, Portugal. Favorite city: Barcelona, Spain. Favorite museum: the Louvre. Favorite church: Saint Mary of the Angels in Winona, Minnesota. Favorite restaurant: This brunch place we found while wandering in Paris, France. Alternate answers: Boyfriend’s snuggles.

Movie you are most excited about for next year: I haven’t seen Spiderman: Homecoming yet but I’m excited to do so! Also STAR WARS THE LAST JEDI

Beanies or Scarves? Scarves

Last person you texted? Boyfriend

Favorite food? Pasta

Favorite season and why? Summer! Because winter is the FUCKING WORST!

Left Twix or Right? Did you mean: belongs in the trash?

Who would win in a fight: Captain America OR Captain Kirk? Okay like Captain America because? superserum? But James T. Kirk is my precious babe I don’t want them to fight :3

Avengers or X-Men? Avengers

Dream Concert: Go back to my Favorite Artists answer and put all of them together in one show :’)

What fictional world/universe would you want to spend a week in: Either Harry Potter’s or Rick Riordan’s (but only if I’m friends with The Squad)

Last video game played: Okay on the real it’s probably Dance Dance Revolution from, like, 2006

#wow this was so long forgive me #I love all you beans #tag game

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monkeyandelf · 7 years ago

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New Post has been published on Buzz News from Monkey & Elf |

New Post has been published on https://www.monkeyandelf.com/22-incredible-albums-turning-20-in-2018/

22 incredible albums turning 20 in 2018

There were plenty of albums released in 1998 that are still beloved today. From the astonishing Music has the Right to Children to the still-acclaimed Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, here are some of the best releases from that year celebrating big anniversaries in 2018.

1998 was one hell of a year. Titanic continued to pack movie theaters and cleaned up at the Oscars, taking 11 awards. US President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky rocked American politics. Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Oh, and a small company named Google was founded in Menlo Park, California.

Musically, releases came thick and fast as access to computer technology became more widespread and young producers began to experiment with an array of pirated, cracked software available online. Warp Records’ slippery electronica flourished as drum ‘n’ bass got progressively more aggressive and trip hop, previously a space rife with innovation, became the soundtrack to aspirational lifestyle ads and fancy dinner parties. Over in the US, the rap landscape was changing as the golden era disappeared and New York’s Rawkus imprint was quickly gaining traction. Meanwhile in Detroit, Theo Parrish was prepping his game-changing debut album and just over the bridge in Windsor, Richie Hawtin was preparing to kill off Plastikman with Consumed. Are you feeling old yet?

Air Moon Safari (Virgin)

Spotify / Apple Music

Time hasn’t been kind to Moon Safari. In the years following its release, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel’s debut album found itself soundtracking adverts, used as sonic wallpaper for TV shows and licensed out to an increasingly bland series of ‘chillout’ compilations peddled by Ministry of Sound, resulting in the duo being lumped in with the likes of Zero 7, Morcheeba and Lemon Jelly. It’s easy to understand why: Godin and Dunckel’s update of vintage lounge music and easy-listening pop is, at times, a little too on the nose.

However, it’s hard to deny that Godin and Dunckel’s songwriting and arrangement elevates Moon Safari far above most of the Ibiza comedown dross that followed it. The whole album sounds like it was recorded in the 1960s and then sent to the 22nd century for polish and mastering, and the album is as much a retro-futurist electronic classic than it is a collection of music for wishing you were lying on a beach. Reaching 20 hasn’t brought Moon Safari back from chillout hell, but it still exudes an effortless cool. SW

Autechre LP5 (Warp)

Spotify / Apple Music

Packaged in a rough grey CD case with “autechre” embossed into it and a sticker on the front (which inevitably fell off after a few months), LP5 was steeped in mystery. Sean Booth and Rob Brown were practically household names at this stage, riding high on the success of 1997’s hip-hop influenced Chiastic Slide, so the confounding and deliciously complex LP5 was a kick in the teeth to fans unwilling to join the duo in their relentless pursuit of progression.

The battle lines had been drawn and you either got on board with Autechre’s crystalline, almost impossible to plagiarize rhythms or you went back to Amber and spent the next two decades reminding people about the good old days. JT

Big Pun Capital Punishment (Loud)

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For the late Big Pun, every single breath was an opportunity. He may have been most famous for ‘Still Not a Player’, a pop remix of his debut single ‘I’m Not a Player (I Just Crush a Lot)’ and R&B singer Joe’s ‘Don’t Wanna Be a Player’ that is still played on the radio today, but he was infamous for fitting polysyllabic punchlines into the standard sixteen bars. His debut Capital Punishment proved he was more than a king-sized loverman, tapping into the same visionary wells as two other late, great NYC Bigs: The Notorious B.I.G and the hedonistic Harlem hellion Big L.

Like Biggie, Pun was an unsuspecting heartthrob with as many axes to grind. And he brought along an impressive ring of friends to tell his tale: Punishment featured guest verses from a slew of varied artists such as Prodigy, Inspectah Deck, Black Thought and Busta Rhymes. But the most memorable of Pun’s creative contributions came via a remake of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre’s ‘Deep Cover’, a Fat Joe collab called ‘Twinz’ where Pun spits: “dead in the middle of Little Italy / Little did we know that we riddled some middle man who didn’t do diddly”. 20 years later, and you still can’t say it five times fast. CL

Black Star Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star (Rawkus)

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“We feel that we have a responsibility to… shine the light… into the darkness,” began Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s sole studio album together, and shine a light they did, on black excellence and defiance in the face of insitutional racism in late ’90s America on this cult classic. “Still more blacks is dying, cause they live and they trying / ‘How to Make a Slave’ by Willie Lynch is still applying,” Talib raps on ‘Redefinition’, before Common collab ‘Respiration’, on which the pair show off their unique alchemy over lazy guitar. “Stay alive, you play or die, no options / No Batman and Robin,” complains Mos Def about law and order in Brooklyn. That may be so, but 20 years on, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star still sounds like the work of a very dynamic duo. AH

Blonde Redhead In an Expression of the Inexpressible (Touch and Go)

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Blonde Redhead had already proved their art-rock bona fides status by the time they released their fourth album In an Expression of the Inexpressible. With two albums on Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley’s label Smells Like Records under their belt and a Touch & Go debut featuring Unwound’s Vern Rumsey on bass put out in 1997, the NYC-via-Italy and Japan trio had been cultivating an immersive sound that was both noisy and romantic for most of the ‘90s. In an Expression was their first with Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto on production and it was the first evidence that polish wouldn’t tarnish their chaotic sound.

Here, they played with the way their brand of urgency can manifest, whether through the breathless vocals and tumbling percussion on opener ‘Luv Machine’, disjointed howls on its title track or fine-tuned math rock on the refined ‘Futurism vs. Passéism Pt. 2’, which features Picciotto in a pitch-perfect French monologue: “Le temps le plus important c’est la première fois / Le temps le plus important c’est la deuxième fois / Et après ça la troisième fois / Et on recommence”.

In English, that translates to: “The first time is the most important time / The second time is the most important time / And after that, the third time is the most important time / And then you start again.” It was a perfect mantra for their fourth album because after In an Expression, the group released their most divergent album, Melody of Certain Lemons and, then finally, their masterpiece Misery is a Butterfly. CL

Boards of Canada Music has the Right to Children (Warp)

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Despite its litany of accolades, Music has the Right to Children wasn’t an immediate success. Over time though, widespread acclaim and word of mouth helped push the album far beyond the usual Warp remit. Boards of Canada had put out similar records before – the equally brilliant Hi Scores was already popular amongst keen diggers – but Music has the Right to Children imagined their woozy, nostalgic sound in widescreen, filling the gaps between memorable tracks like ‘Turquoise Hexagon Sun’, ‘Roygbiv’ and ‘Aquarius’ with field recordings, eerily familiar samples and crumbling white noise.

It was an album that felt like a distillation of a great deal of contemporaneous ideas: the neck-snapping MPC rhythms of golden era hip-hop, the acid-blurred bounce of rave, the haunting textures of ambient techno and the vaporous rush of Warp-patented idm. As trip-hop became relegated to the coffee table and drum ‘n’ bass slowly lost its luster, Music has the Right to Children filled a gap, preying on our THC-damaged memories and offering a full dose of musical Xanax. It’s never been repeated, either – countless artists have attempted to replicate Sandison and Eoin’s formula and none have succeeded; like the titular Pete, Music has the Right to Children stands alone. JT

Brandy Never Say Never (Atlantic)

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Brandy’s self-titled debut was sweet and flirty. Its follow-up, Never Say Never, however separated her from being just a pop singer with an accelerating star to one with something to say. The album was released after numerous advances in her career both professionally (the sitcom Moesha she starred in for five years launched in 1996) and as subject of gossip columns (at 17, she took budding NBA star Kobe Bryant, who was 18 at the time to prom). Never Say Never explores themes of fame, like the Mase-featuring single ‘Sittin’ on Top of the World’, as well as love, such as on the Diane Warren-penned ballad ‘Have You Ever?’. No discussion of Never Say Never, of course, is complete without mention of Monica duet ‘The Boy is Mine’ – a playful chart smash which also featured on Monica’s 1998 LP, named after the track, and boasting a similarly maturity to Brandy’s album. CL

Destiny’s Child Destiny’s Child (Columbia)

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For anyone who’s ever doubted Beyoncé’s dedication to the rap roots of her hometown Houston, revisit Destiny’s Child’s self-titled debut. While the album is jam-packed with radio-friendly hits, like their debut singles ‘No, No, No Pt. 2’ (US) and ‘With Me’ (UK), it also features Bey’s first musical dalliance with Geto Boys – the ‘Mind’s Playin’ Tricks on Me’-sampling ‘Illusion’. (She and DC groupmate LaTavia Roberson, of course, appeared in the video for ‘Gangsta Put Me Down’ a couple of years before.)

Destiny’s Child doesn’t have the same panache as their starmaking second album The Writing’s On the Wall, but the singles are fun to revisit, as are their counterparts – the ‘No, No, No’ slow jam and a version of ‘With Me’ featuring Master P. CL

DJ Clue The Professional (Roc-A-Fella)

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Before the rap mixtape was a ubiquitous entity, DJ Clue’s The Professional (alongside three volumes of Funkmaster Flex label-released mixtapes) brought the concept, legally, into CD stores. It featured the remix of DMX’s ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem’ and appearances from Cam’ron, Big Pun, Fabolous, Canibus, Noreaga, Missy Elliott, Jermaine Dupri, Jay-Z, Ja Rule, Foxy Brown, and, among plenty more, a new version of EMPD’s ‘It’s My Thang’ featuring Keith Murray and Redman. This compilation made it feel like New York was an unstoppable force, especially potent with all of its powers combined. The late ‘90s turned out to be the beginning of the end, but this was a hell of a way to start the bon voyage party. CL

DMX It’s Dark and Hell is Hot (Def Jam)

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It may be hard for some to imagine it now, but there was a time when X was incredibly fit and famous, bridging divides between rap fans, hard rock fans and casual music listeners who liked whatever was on the radio. (Seriously, check out his Woodstock ’99 crowd.) His debut album It’s Dark and Hell is Hot wasn’t just a collection of major hits, like the endlessly quotable ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem’ or his summer love song ‘How’s It Goin’ Down?’, but a spread of genre that ranged from some of the most silly but lovable horrorcore (‘X is Coming’, ‘Damien’) to some of the most sinister, detailed gangster rap of the late ’90s.

Lead single ‘Get at Me Dog’ is unhinged, and not just because X punctuates the Sheek Louch chorus by emitting literal dog barks. In the third verse, which is rumored to have originally been about 2Pac, he raps, “Blood stains and chalk means your man couldn’t walk / After the talk, about him not being 11:33 to New York… And it’s gon’ take all these n***as in the rap game to barely move me / Cos when I blow shit up, I have n****s falling like white bitches in a scary movie.” There is a physicality to the music on It’s Dark that is displayed best there, but you can still feel his kinetic movements in every rhyme throughout the album. CL

Fugazi End Hits (Dischord)

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When Fugazi’s fifth album End Hits dropped in April 1998, everyone thought they were on the verge of splitting up. “It’s more about the end of the century and the slow-moving apocalypse, so it was sort of like, ‘Here are some last words from the world,’” explained Ian MacKaye at the time, offering an alternative interpretation of the LP’s title that turned out to be a private joke among band members anyway.

End Hits didn’t sound the death knell for the post-hardcore legends, who went on to release The Argument in 2001, but it was instrumental in helping to close the book on their early sound. An audacious trip from a fearless band, picking up where 1995’s experimental-leaning adventure Red Machine left off, the album further embraced that deep, meandering, jazzy spirit, while having barely anything to do with the three-chord structure of classic punk rock. It was also a record that distilled the DC band’s anti-commercial, anti-corporate politics into a single song, ‘Five Corporations’, with lines like: “Check the math here / Check in ten years / Clusterfuck theory / Buy them up and shut them down / Then repeat in every town / Every town will be the same.” A classic in the canon of an impossibly important band, End Hits is such monumental album, we even named our new weekly playlist feature after it. ACW

Juvenile 400 Degreez (Cash Money)

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From the perspective of a New Yorker whose only idea of regional rap was hearing artists from different boroughs and, maybe, New Jersey on the radio every day, Juvenile was a lightning rod. On Rap City – pre-Tha Basement days – you could get a taste of how the rap landscape was unfolding in the rest of the United States, particularly the South, whether it was Ghetto Mafia’s ‘In Decatur’ or JT Money’s ‘Who Dat?’. Those songs sounded like nothing I had ever heard before, but Juvenile’s ‘Ha’ was the most transportive.

Whatever your experience with 400 Degreez when it was released, whether it was a triumph for you and your home or a portal to something completely new, or you know, maybe you weren’t even born yet, the album still transports people today. Ever seen the change on a dancefloor when the first few notes of ‘Back That Azz Up’ start? Juvie led the charge on the south’s hip-hop takeover and even the most indignant on either coast have to admit it when this song comes on. CL

Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Ruffhouse)

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Forget everything that happened next: the lawsuits, the exile, her tax troubles, imprisonment, the endless concert no-shows, the $2.5m spent on a second album that never came and so on. Miseducation was and remains a neo-soul masterpiece. Packing a spiritual calm and intimate power at once crushing and revitalizing, the album was a smash, propelling Hill to even taller heights of fame than she’d reached with the Fugees. 20m copies were sold worldwide, prompting Hollywood to come calling as the star’s celebrity grew and grew: Hill turned down roles in The Matrix and Bourne franchises as the spotlight on her intensified.

The glare of that spotlight ultimately became too bright for Hill, who disappeared and never really returned after the release of an MTV Unplugged album three years later, some sporadic tour dates and the odd new track aside. At least we’re left with an album that, 20 years on, as women continue to strive to be heard in a world dominated by men and misogynists, continues to be relevant in its celestial magic and inspiring tales of female perseverance. AH

Leila Like Weather (Rephlex)

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After touring with Björk, keyboardist and sound engineer Leila Arab retreated to her studio and penned Like Weather, one of the Rephlex label’s most singular releases. Arab harnessed a wide variety of influences, from Aphex Twin’s squiggly bedroom electronica to the dusty bump of trip hop, assembling an album that sounds like a forgotten tape of Prince demos played backwards. Her inventive production sits at the center and is embellished with a cast of vocalists – most prominently Stubborn Heat’s Luca Santucci – who lift off her sound into a parallel (purple) universe. The result is a suite of effervescent, sub-aquatic soul pop that still sounds completely out of time. JT

Massive Attack Mezzanine (Virgin)

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The Mercury-nominated Mezzanine saw Bristol’s finest reach the peak of their cross-pollinating powers to perfect the spiky downtempo stew they had begun cultivating some seven years earlier. Featuring guest spots from Studio One legend Horace Andy and Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser – whose ethereal vocal is the jewel in the crown of an album that brought us one of the most memory-jogging songs of the ‘90s, ‘Teardrop’ – we named Massive Attack’s third LP one our favorite albums of the decade in 2012, and quite rightly so. ACW

OutKast Aquemini (LaFace)

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After the intergalactic ATLiens, Aquemini saw Andre 3000 and Big Boi not quite return to Earth, but certainly position their wild funk-rap space craft a little closer to our stratosphere. Sure, the pair’s third studio album together was threaded with the spacey textures, futurism and out-of-this-world ambition as the 2m-selling ATLiens, but this was a different, more human-sounding release, full of live instrumentation and lyrics confronting mortality. Maybe this was down to the birth of Andre’s first child a year earlier, a milestone in the rapper’s life that could be linked to more reflective, real contemplations on tracks like ‘Da Art of Storytellin’ (Part 1)’, which eulogizes a childhood friend named Sasha Thumper who died of a drug overdose. From single ‘Rosa Parks’ to the George Clinton-featuring ‘Synthesizer’, it hasn’t aged a second. How can it? OutKast, even then, were living in the future. AH

Plastikman Consumed (NovaMute)

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Compared with 1993’s stark, acidic Sheet One and 1994’s undulating Muzik, Consumed borders on silent. Richie Hawtin’s wobbling TB-303 lines are still present, almost, but gone is the rhythmic clatter of ‘Gak’ or ‘Spastik’, replaced by cavernous reverb and spine-chilling minimalist drones. Make no mistake, Consumed is barely dance music, it’s a hypnotic, progressive inversion of acid house tropes, spiked with Artificial Intelligence-era ambience and sci-fi paranoia. If its predecessors embraced the party, Consumed exemplified the comedown. JT

Pole 1 (Kiff SM)

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Armed with a faulty Waldorf 4-Pole filter unit, Stefan Betke took Mark Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald’s Berlin dub blueprint and subdued it, discarding techno’s uniformity and highlighting the beauty of his failing production process. A few years earlier, German trio Oval had pioneered glitch music, mutilating compact discs to create digital belches and hiccups that were subsequently manipulated into rhythms and drones; Betke harnessed a cotierie of similar sounds, but underpinned them with the bass weight of a Jamaican soundsystem.

1 is the first of a trilogy of numbered full-lengths from Pole and introduced many listeners to Betke’s sound, channeling his dubby sketches through a wall of surprisingly graceful interference. It isn’t the best example of his sound (that would be 2) but it helped shift electronic music forward and its ripples are still being felt. JT

Surgeon Balance (Tresor)

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Brummie techno producer Anthony Child managed to achieve the impossible back in the 1990s when he successfully transported Detroit techno’s heady futurism to the UK, augmenting its downtrodden grit with grim, post-industrial cynicism. Balance was one of a sequence of classic Surgeon albums (along with 1997’s Basictonalvocabulary and 1999’s Force + Form) and highlights Child’s unique skill in long-form. The album is, basically, a series of eardrum rupturing warehouse techno bangers, but unlike so many others (back then and now) is, for want of a better word, balanced. JT

Theo Parrish First Floor (Peacefrog)

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Comprised of the two EPs Parrish created for Peacefrog in 1998, the Detroit legend’s essential collection of fizzy, feel-good “sound sculptures” is a sample house classic that will never grow old. An eccentric LP that holds a mirror up to the DC-born producer’s freewheeling DJ sets, First Floor is an electronic album with a deep soul, one where the looped jazz, funk and disco samples of Parrish’s Chicago upbringing peek through distorted drums, with a groove running through that will take you by the hand and lead you straight to the dancefloor. ACW

Tortoise TNT (Thrill Jockey)

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Chicago’s Tortoise were notable for their unusual take on post-rock; they were less indebted to hardcore than many of their peers, exploring Krautrock rhythms, dubwise low end and infusing their compositions with electronics. But TNT was different from their acclaimed self-titled debut and its inventive followup, Millions Now Living Will Never Die. Now, instead of motorik drums and pulsing bass, light, jazzy guitar riffs and Rob Mazurek’s trumpet filled tracks that owed more to progressive rock than they did Can. Critics were impressed at the time, but fans were divided by the new direction, which at times skated a precarious line between innovation and regression. But Tortoise flirted successfully with jazzy, easy listening tropes on TNT and two decades later, the album sounds markedly more impressive than the quiet-loud dirges of much of the rest of the post-rock canon. JT

Total Kima, Keisha, and Pam (Bad Boy)

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History could be kinder to R&B trio Total and, perhaps, now that their modernist album Kima, Keisha, and Pam is turning 20, they’ll get their due. Signed to Puffy’s Bad Boy label at its peak, the group were known for their many collaborations with Missy Elliott and The Notorious B.I.G. – that’s Pam singing, “Biggie, Biggie, Biggie, can’t you see…” on ‘Hypnotize’.

On the album, tracks like ‘Trippin’, ‘If You Want Me’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna’ sound like they could be released right now and still sound just as fresh, if not like they’re pointed toward the future. Some of that is, of course, Elliott’s deft hand – she wrote nearly all of the songs on the album – but it’s also in the performances from and the attitude of the group. They had a certain cool-girl persona that hadn’t really materialized yet, but can be found in artists like Kehlani and Tinashe today. CL

Honorable mentions

Coil/Time Machines – Time Machines (Eskaton) Two Lone Swordsmen – Stay Down (Warp) Various – Lyricist Lounge Vol.1 (Rawkus) Windy And Carl – Depths (Kranky) Ed Rush & Optical – Wormhole (Virus) Herbert – Around the House (Phonography)

Read next: 30 incredible albums turning 20 years old in 2017

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