#love love love mixed comps🤩

[bronzebluemind]

It’s been 35 weeks since the World Cup finale, 0 days to go until next season. TODAY’S THE DAY ❄️💗✨

[tutuandscoot]

Can we talk about the 4cc version of Kiss? I forgot how much I love that version! They just seemed like their confidence was turned up to the max! Also I know that S swings his leg up and around right before he dips T but I noticed this is the only version where he also swings his leg up *after* he dips her and it’s even higher than before 🥵idk he was just on fire there. And then I love watching the slow motion replay. Tessa especially looks so god damn majestic. Her facial expressions and attitude that she brought to that performance were so on point. What a star 🤩

DAMN STRAIGHT WE CAN.

This is probably the version of Prince (other than ACI) that I’ve watched the least (also where TF is the nationals video?????). The terrible camera work from this event doesn’t bother me so much in the FD bc the more artsy/free vibe of Latch, but Prince.. with half the NTMLSS cut off.. grrrr

But ignoring that uncomfortable watching experience it has some admirable qualities I’d forgotten to fully appreciate.

Firstly- not that I’ve seen the whole comp but I’ve seen the skate order, and seeing that it’s based off world rankings they skated earlier than they normally would’ve, so this burst of energy (and superior talent) would’ve been such a wake up for everyone.

You can definitely see them starting to amp up the energy and precision in this version- the worlds skate being supreme. In the first opening, voguing moves T is so much sharper and S has so much character and is super precise with is movements.

+ this moment from T : the pony tail whip and the sassy snap 🫰

Also in the midline step with the hip hop moves they were so in to it and really trying to feel loose and express that cool kinda hip hop (which I much prefer over the majority of the other programs that year).

Now would you believe me if I told you I never even noticed how high he kicks he is leg after the dip here!?! It’s partly the bad camera angle that’s blocking it, and he does it so quick you’ll miss it. But damn is that hot or what?!?? 🥵

God they are just so cool and casual about their amazingness! They know they are the best good, they perform with so much confidence- never look apologetic for being out there, but they also do not offend you or turn you off by there confidence. They have mastered (they always had this quality) the delicate balance of being into each other and into themselves (in these kinds of programs) as well as performing/interacting with each other and the audience. I’ve never seen another team that’s able to do that like them. So often it’s one or the other, or a mix in the one performance bc they haven’t figured it out. I really don’t know if that’s the sort of thing that can be trained- I really think VM are born performers, and they are each other’s artistic soulmate.

Moving on, their blues pattern is just soo good as well. The deepest edges, covering so much ice. The musicality- I watch every other team (I did this watching the Beijing olys as well) and I count it to VM’s timing- obs they are all doing the same tempo but no one conducts the music like VM do- it’s like they guide the music with their dancing, they are so in the music it’s scary. (Also his twizzle into the first step is m a d n e s s I’ll never shut up about it) 🥵🥵

S has a little boo boo in the middle of the in-hold pattern (which is maybe another reason I don’t watch this version much) but you so easily forget about it and you’re almost immediately right back in it with them. I will say though I think you could feel it in him a bit- like he kept the reminder of that mistake with him throughout the rest of it (I only say that as someone who has watched and studied them so much I pick up on those things) but still overall a superior performance.

I just thought about this watching the video to write this post, and you know how both they (and the fandom) have alluded to it being kind of obvious T was more of a leader this season then ever before.. I think the place that is most clear during actual skating is in the twizzles in Prince- not Latch at all for some reason.. only Prince. Now S was shaky on his twizzles all season (I’ve written before about maybe why) and it seems odd to say that one of them could be ‘leading’ in an individually executed element, but it’s just a thought that popped into my head watching it that.. idk something about the rhythm.. it feels kinda like T is guiding/setting the rhythm, or maybe it’s that hers (twizzles) were soooo solid all season that you’re confident in watching her- like she kinda covers for him in a way?? Idk.. just a thought, but it’s really fascinating to think about how that dynamic operates between them and they could share duties like that (@ VM start your podcast I need more info on this super specific shit)

And then yeah the rest of it is great. Just them being rockstars, amazing lift, crowd on its feet, me in tears, the usual.

I’ve read others say and I agree with it that often if one of them has a bad skate (but usually if it’s him that messes up) they will deprive themselves of a post-skate hug bc they feel they don’t deserve it. Here he messed up and you can tell he was mad so instead of it being ‘well T did good she deserves a hug’ it’s ‘I made a mistake I don’t deserve a hug from my kiddo’.. which lets reestablish: we do not know this for certain.. but it is the vibe I (and others obviously) get. Then there’s times where one does mess up and the other is insistent on a hug (ie worlds this year or NHK the next year when he messed up the twizzles) (also he was very insistent on always giving her hugs earlier around 2010/her injuries).

So yes this is a great performance- every time you could see them getting better and better, which still you watch stuff from 2010 and it’s like ‘how will they get better than that’ and yet they did- they were never satisfied and I love that about them!

Thank for this anon, let’s open it up to more of these- send through a specific performance of any (VM) program with a few key points (like the above ask) and I’ll elaborate- can’t promise they’ll get done straight away but I’ll work my way through them.

ALSO: go ahead and watch this entire program on mute.. double check to make sure you aren’t watching it sped up.. you’re not- they just skate THAT FAST 💨

[randomvarious]

1970s Soul Playlist

Added a few criminally underheard gems to this terrific 1970s soul playlist on Spotify that I haven't updated in a couple years. Two of these adds are by pretty obscure acts that you've probably never heard of and the other one is by Ike & Tina Turner. So let's get into 'em!

First up, we have a guy from Detroit named Nathaniel (Na) Allen, whose entire recording career appears to have only consisted of about a half-dozen 7-inches between the years of 1970 and 1973. And Allen may have called the Motor City his home, but most of his material was recorded in the south, including his only record for the Shreveport, Louisiana-based Ronn Records—a sublabel of Jewel Records—from 1970 called "Lay It on Me Right Now." This lovely, tender, and relaxed tune has some great and sweetly ringing guitar work on it to go along with Allen's sure and steady vocals, and as of right now, it only has about 3,200 plays on Spotify. In 1991, "Lay It on Me Right Now" appeared on another Jewel sublabel's compilation, Paula Records' Super Soul Blues, Volume II, under the name of "Bring It on Home," which is also on Spotify, and currently has under 1,000 plays.

Next, "Back in Love Again," by a vocal duo from the very tiny town of Magee, Mississippi called The Patterson Twins. These guys also ended up putting out one record on Ronn, but before that, in 1973, they released "Back in Love Again" on Cincinnati label King Records. This one's a nice and smooth, southern-styled tune with a coasting chorus that sees the brothers harmonizing with some female backup singers to add some depth and gravitas. And the Pattersons may have had a longer and more fruitful career than that of Na Allen's, but this excellent tune of theirs currently only has under 1,000 plays on Spotify.

And last, but certainly not least for these Spotify adds is Ike & Tina Turner's brilliant cover of Faye Adams & the Joe Morris Orchestra's "Shake a Hand," the original of which is a slow-moving and powerful R&B classic from 1953 that managed to stay atop the Billboard R&B chart for nine whole weeks. This cover, which appears to have been first recorded in 1979, but stayed unreleased until 1985 when it first appeared on an Ike & Tina comp called Golden Empire, speeds things up a bit from the original version and adds a little southerly funk to it too. And Tina may lead the whole way through it vocally, but to me, this thing really crests on the bridge, with an irresistibly quirky and primitively whistling electronic keyboard solo added to the mix 🤩. And for how great this little nugget is, and for how popular Ike & Tina were as a duo, the fact that this tune only has under 9,900 plays on Spotify feels pretty ridiculous!

Na Allen - "Bring It on Home" Patterson Twins - "Back in Love Again" Ike & Tina Turner - "Shake a Hand"

Now, while you can also find those three songs on the YouTube version of this playlist, there's an extra one that I added to it this week that's not on Spotify too, and it's another one from the Patterson Twins, with a song that they released as a b-side on King Records in 1973 called "I Got Some Problems," which sees them in a much more upbeat and lively mode and doing a whole lot more satisfying harmonizing than they did on "Back in Love Again" too. Currently at a very low view count of under 120.

Patterson Twins - "I Got Some Problems"

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music too.

So with the Spotify version of this look back at some super underrated 70s soul tunes, we now have 22 songs for a total of 75 minutes; but over on YouTube, we've got an extra song, which brings us up to 77 minutes.

Back to posting about electronic stuff next week! 😎

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[los-ninos-tortugas]

Hey! Hi! OMG!! I CANNOT BELIEVE I STUMBLED UPON YOU!! I have to tell you how much I LOVE Set a Course for Home!! When I first saw it on ao3 I about went insane!! Star Trek and rottmnt are two of my favorite things and I- AHHHHH!!! YDOYSUFFUSUSKDJFTZJC I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT!! Voyager is special to me because it’s my mom’s favorite and genuinely so good and throwing Donnie into the mix is so interesting!! The way you wrote he and Janeway in the first couple chapters was so cute and I can see them just having the cutest mentor mentee relationship (cause let’s be real, Janeway has a habit of picking up strays and Donnie is a particularally cute one). Having Samatha be his “official” guardian was such an interesting and great choice as well and Donnie and Naomi having a sibling relationship is so adorable. Donnie is the best big brother! One relationship I think would be interesting would be Tuvok and Donnie. Something about “Mr Vulcan” and “unemotional bad boy” hanging out and having long interesting conversations is so captivating to me. Plus I can just see Donnie learning how to play kal-toh and loving it. He can respect a fellow lover of logic. Honestly just all around love the concept and cannot wait for a fic update!

Good luck in the niche au comp! I hope to see you there and maybe compete against you! 💜🖖

HELLO?? DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU MADE MY NIGHT??? qkkwondixjeo 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

I also got introduced to Voyager through my mom! (Honestly if it weren’t for her showing me Voyager I might have abandoned Star Trek altogether, but that’s a story for another time) after getting into rise I was just like, “YES PUT THEM TOGETHER”

The character dynamics are so fun to play around with!!!

Good luck to you too!! I’m really excited it looks like it’s gonna be a lot of fun!! 🤩 🖖

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

The Chillout Album, Volume 1: The Essential Late Night Mix 1999 Downtempo / Trip Hop / Future Jazz / Drum n Bass / Big Beat / Jazz / Breakbeat / Deep House

Man, this is such a great fucking double-disc of mostly mid-to-late 90s chillout shit. True-blue chillout junkies might roll their eyes at the thought of having to sit through yet another spin of "6 Underground" by Sneaker Pimps, but still, even for the junkies, there's some choice nuggets on here that they're far less likely to have ever encountered, like Trigger's remix of "Still" by Double Six or DJ Cam's mix of "Sousoundé" by Métisse. Only thing is that even though the subtitle says that this is "The Essential Late Night Mix," it's actually not a DJ mix at all, which kinda feels like false or misleading advertising to me. I mean, if a release says "mix" in its title, then I think it's safe to assume that the tracks will bleed into each other. But that's not the case here.

However, now that you know that it's not a DJ mix, if you consider yourself a bit of a downtempo / trip hop / future jazz novice who might be looking to get their beak wet, then I still highly recommend this release. Nearly every song is great, even though I personally wouldn't categorize some of them to be chillout, and while the majority of tunes come from the mid-to-late 90s, there's a fair bit of early 90s tunes as well, and also a sprinkling of some stuff from the 60s through 80s, too, although most of those 60s through 80s songs feel a tad misplaced, except for Jean-Jacques Perrey's novelty, "E.V.A.," which amazingly sounds like it fits right in on this comp even though it's from 1970. It's like a proto-big beat jam. *deep breath*

So, you're getting a lot of contemporaneous and highly popular UK tunes, some less popular and more niche tunes, and also a history lesson packed in here as well. And whoever compiled this thing must've been really into Everything But the Girl at the time (or maybe Telstar TV, the label who released it, had some kind of deal with Virgin, EBTG's label back then) since Tracey Thorn graces three different tracks. But can you blame them? Her voice is watery magic 🤩.

Highlights:

CD1:

Massive Attack - "Protection" Sneaker Pimps - "6 Underground" Fatboy Slim - "Praise You" Bentley Rhythm Ace - "Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out" Chicane - "Offshore" The Orb - "Little Fluffy Clouds" The Aloof - "One Night Stand" LTJ Bukem - "Horizons" Everything but the Girl - "Walking Wounded" Adam F - "F-Jam" The All Seeing I - "Beat Goes On" The Stone Roses - "Fools Gold (The Stone Roses vs. Grooverider - Grooverider's mix - edit)" Smoke City - "Underwater Love" Lalo Schifrin - "Bullitt (main theme)" Nightmares on Wax - "Nights Interlude" Pat Metheny Group - "Are You Going With Me?"

CD2:

Deep Dish with Everything but the Girl - "The Future of the Future (Stay Gold)" David Holmes - "Rodney Yates" Étienne de Crécy - "Prix Choc" Primal Scream - "Slip Inside This House" World Party - "Is It Too Late? (remix)" Rae & Christian feat. Veba - "Spellbound" Moloko - "Fun for Me" Jean-Jacques Perrey - "E.V.A." Ronny Jordan - "The Jackal" The Ballistic Brothers - "Blacker" Métisse - "Sousoundé (DJ Cam mix)" Electribe 101 - "Talking With Myself" Saint Etienne feat. Moira Lambert - "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" Way Out West - "The Gift" Olive - "You're Not Alone (Nightmares on Wax remix)" Double Six - "Still (Trigger mix)" SWP - "Voyager"