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septembersghost · 2 years ago

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The parallels between ootw and tvfn is also a very intriguing and seems almost intentional. Like if tvfn was written first why would she use those parallels to describe a guy who was polar opposite to jake. If jake introduced her to Polaroids or had Polaroid memories with him I think Taylor somehow would have sneaked those references at least in the short film.She even showed the guitar he gave her. She made CIWYW lyric video cover Polaroid and mentioned it in NYD because she and joe shared some fondness for it.

Take me away to you//take me home . I also read an article were Julien brunnetta(?) said harry was adamant about calling iicf 'if I could fly ' instead of 'for your eyes only.' Also on the childish thing,wasn't 1d releasing tvfn style pop music in their first two albums. It looks like she is trying to link him with pop like the way she used 'guitar' works for dear john.

But who knows.......maybe we're wrong maybe not. Its not like Taylor would come and say tvfn is about jake/harry/connor. I think it's ok to have different opinions on art unless you are crossing the line

I think it's ok to have different opinions on art unless you are crossing the line agree, and most of us (and everyone i've discussed music with here on my blog, i appreciate you all very much!) do tackle these concepts and subjects with genuine care for her, and respectfully, i think. we're not wildly spinning or fabricating, we're just having fun looking at the known information and the lyrical pictures she paints, and wondering about why she chooses to depict certain situations in specific ways!

part of analysis is laying pieces out and deciding for ourselves where they fit and how they tell the story. and as i've said, we also then make them completely our own with personal meaning! that's the magic of it all, it's her story however she intended it, and then it's part of us and our memories too. <3

(i'm only putting these under cuts because i talk a lot lol)

this is kind of topic adjacent, but it's very warm to me how she's reclaimed and reconnected to things, both on her own, and with joe and the love they've built and that healing process. the rep polaroids are so special.

the typewriter reference is such a powerful metaphor in the atw short film, the fact that he would give her an instrument that she then uses to write the story down, and to make it hers and her legacy, and i love how that connects directly to the guitar. little lived-in flourishes like that are part of what makes it affecting.

it's definitely interesting that there's no mention of polaroids specifically elsewhere on red (or photographs even? *except* the photo album on the counter where he's a little kid with glasses). there are so many other tangible pieces - lockets and keychains and handwritten notes and scarves. but it's like she keeps the pictures in her own mind. which, for me, also speaks quite a bit to maroon, the bruise of it, and the way she looks back at that.

"for your eyes only" is a famous song by sheena easton from a james bond movie of the same title, i always just though maybe there was a conflict! but you're right: "Songwriter Julian Bunetta talked to Rolling Stone about hearing If I Could Fly for the first time, stating "I remember when Harry first played it to me. That one I didn't write, but I remember when I first heard it. We were in Westlake Studio for a week. I kept asking why he wanted to call it 'If I Could Fly.' It's a great song, so it doesn't really matter what it's called, does it?" it's something i personally love about that song, that its title is its first line, and that while it isn't repeated, it shifts the meaning in a way. because the center isn't the intimacy shared with the other person - for their eyes only - it's the longing to go back to them. (full disclosure, if i could fly is, like, my second favorite song of their entire catalog, so i have Feelings.) it makes that lyric poignant and particularly vital - which is exactly why the similar one caught my attention in the very first night.

it does intrigue me that there seem to be links between tvfn and ootw, and of course taylor does repeat themes that aren't connected, or take on different meaning in new situations, so i don't want to make random parallels between completely unrelated things (unlike some genius annotators haha), BUT it's a case where i find it quite magnetic emotionally, because either that's intended, or she entirely reframed her experiences from one to the other. both are interesting to consider!

i think it's a pretty common opinion that hygtg itself is a nod to 1D's early music stylistically, and while tvfn is very tayloresque, sonically it wouldn't be out of place alongside tracks on take me home. message in a bottle definitely would too, it's classic pop of the early 2010s (complimentary!). like i said, it's just such a sweet pop song and she wasn't really pointing that type of innocent reminiscence at jg, everything with him is more mature and emotionally loaded. we for sure could be wrong on this one, but it doesn't make the connections less curious!

#anonymous #letterbox #haylor #i feel like these posts should always have the (artistic) sticky note

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thesinglesjukebox · 1 year ago

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BOYGENIUS - "NOT STRONG ENOUGH"

youtube

Smokin' in the boys' room...

[6.35]

Tara Hillegeist: Like much of boygenius' output, group name included, this is sublime hangout music with pretenses towards something sublimated -- pretenses that just about manage to get in the way of the autumn-sunset-at-lakeside vibes the group's folksy gestures are set on evoking, instead, before falling apart in the face of that sideways glance of a crescendo this song calls a bridge. But it's hard for me to argue with the evidence at hand that boygenius' reason for being is a sound one. Imagine if all the anhedonia we shared with each other could sound this sweet; maybe that less-lonely world would have need of fewer critics. [6]

Hannah Jocelyn: I've been working on a Boygenius essay all year, that I may or may not publish; how I relate to, differ from, and yes, envy their collective gender presentation as a trans woman. I've written 4,000 words, a lot of which are probably filled with tangents and redundancies, but very little is about the music. That's because, for the most part, The Record is an unapologetic major-label victory lap, where the three musketeers indulge in mushy love songs for one another and celebrate their bond. It's impossible to tell who wrote what, as the trio peacefully melt into one another until they're a massive sapphic hydra. "Not Strong Enough" soars above all this, Sheryl Crow allusion and all, because it's just a good pop song. It doesn't have the wit or emotional resonance of their best individual material, but it does have a hook worthy of Crow and some great ear candy (the pumping sweep effect at 2:07, Lucy Dacus' echoing ad-lib of "go home alone"). Also, Julien Baker name-drops "Boys Don't Cry" over the chords of "Just Like Heaven." Nice! [7]

Michael Hong: On their lead tringle, you can trace the songwriting down to each member: Julien Baker's nihilistic self-disgust is present under the messy "$20," Phoebe Bridgers is blunt despite all apologies on "Emily, I'm Sorry," and Lucy Dacus' "True Blue" is laced with rich detail -- except when it isn't. "True Blue" cops out on the bridge. "You've never done me wrong, except for that one time / that we don't talk about," an awkward aside for anyone who hasn't been disillusioned by the group's PR campaign. "Not Strong Enough" attempts to split the songwriting and in the process lands with the same issues. Its in-jokes and references are played without so much of a wink, too serious to sound clever. While the three-part harmony at the tail of the bridge is a nice reminder of the distinctions of each vocalist, their verses are economical to the point that individual characteristics, for better or for worse, are difficult to trace in the song. [4]

Alfred Soto: Bored by the well-intentioned poignancy of their solo music, I was surprised by the speed at which I fell in love with boygenius' group work. They love performing their intimacy -- can you imagine how queerness might've advanced had, say, CSN&Y bussed each other on stage? "Not Strong Enough" marries a strong strummed melody to lyrics that take advantage of Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridges' harmonic strengths, a pleasure in itself. The plainspoken confessions match the women's timbres. [8]

Nortey Dowuona: Remember when Chance the Rapper decided to make a great pop rap album as the rapping member of the SoX Experiment and people wanted the next Chance solo album instead and then he did that and y'all hated him more and more? Pray this don't happen to Phoebe Bridgers. [7]

Crystal Leww: Women can be fuckboys, too -- set to guitar! [2]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The closer that these three get to being an actual band, the more they leave me cold. I loved their EP from half a decade ago in part because it kept the essential character of each songwriter intact -- these were demos that they had brought to their friends to finish up, not hivemind exercises. Despite working with musicians I like (can we just hear the Melina Duterte/Sarah Tudzin/Carla Azar trio instead?) and doing everything they're supposed to do as an artistic unit (If I have to hear about the three of them going to therapy together again I'll have to go to therapy myself), the returns still diminish. "Not Strong Enough" is neither good enough to save rock music nor bad enough to capsize it. Instead, it's a charmingly indistinct piece of big gesture indie, the kind of song that I can intellectually understand the appeal of while feeling nothing for. It's end credits music, a slow fade that, for all of my wishing, won't ever be fireworks. [4]

Ian Mathers: It is hard to avoid the "people are so weird about this band" field boygenius generates now to just write about the song. But I am 30 or 40 years old and I do not need that (to those shouting "skill issue" or "you deliberately haven't been paying attention to that stuff"... I see you, and you're valid). I listen to boygenius as a band, not some weird referendum on who's solo stuff I like best. And so with "Not Strong Enough" I just hear a lovely and frequently moving song where all three singers get to take a good chorus around the block, and all of them nail it in different ways. The only extra commentary I want is the line from Bridgers I saw quoted on Genius: "Self-hatred is a god complex sometimes." It sure fucking is! [9]

Katherine St Asaph: I just think of the thousands of singer-songwriters who get a fraction of their press, while making music that isn't bland. [4]

Aaron Bergstrom: The boygenius project could have been a success even if it never exceeded the sum of its parts. It could have been a long-distance book club and mutual admiration society, three wildly talented songwriters who occasionally got together to sing backing vocals on each other's songs. Maybe it stops there. Even the most like-minded artists can't always find the same creative wavelength. It happens. When the first three singles from the record were very clearly The Julien Song, The Phoebe Song, and The Lucy Song, it wasn't necessarily a disappointment (all three are excellent in their own right). It just felt like the group had a ceiling. "Not Strong Enough," though, points to something bigger. It's the first song that sounds like boygenius as a band. It's a song that none of them could have produced individually. The titular hook is Phoebe's, the "always an angel, never a god" climax is Lucy's, and Julien's guitar holds it together (plus she gets to drag race through the canyon singing "Boys Don't Cry"). There's a collective joy, a thrill of possibility, something above and beyond their individual brilliance. Listen to them talk about it. It's cool that they played Madison Square Garden, and Saturday Night Live, and it's great that they're going to be near the top of every year-end list that anybody cares about, but none of that explains why this was The Year of Boygenius as definitively as "the way Phoebe looks at Lucy when she talks about songwriting." [10]

Leela Grace: In fall 2017 I called my friend from where I was camping in Montana and said, "I heard a song that reminded me of us!" and I sang her the verse from "Funeral" that ends with "we talk until we think we might just kill ourselves/then we laugh until it disappears." This year we got married. The members of Boygenius have sad-girl brands musically but together, their extratextual joy makes its way into the harmonies. Finding people who understand you is such a rare and special thing, in whatever form it takes, for however long it lasts, and sadness shared is easier to bear. Maybe you can't control when people leave you or the marks they'll leave on you: you are always an angel, never a god. But when you sing together you come close. [9]

Josh Love: The Record is a real "greater than the sum of its parts" type of album. Over the course of its whole running time, the camaraderie and charm of these three women swapping songs and verses, harmonizing and singing background on each other's cuts, communicates something far more resonant than a single isolated song. There's not even a Lucy Dacus verse! The greater magic here is how these three roughly similar artists can each evince such distinct personae, to the extent that it's incredibly easy to attest to an allegiance for any one of them above the other two. I went into boygenius sure I was a Phoebe, but now I'm convinced I'm a Julien. [7]

Tim de Reuse: Gorgeous, lush -- antiseptically corporate. A paint-by-numbers masterpiece in half-formed suburban anxieties. A sleek vehicle assembled by collage: the indie rock appeal to road trips, the indie rock domestic imagery, the indie rock rousing chantalong. I, too, have spent many nights staring at a ceiling fan and catastrophizing. It didn't sound like a delicate synth arpeggio. I don't think something this grandiose would comfort me, either. [4]

Oliver Maier: I don't really agree with the critique that boygenius is total wallpaper mood music; they're not here, anyway. The production is satisfying and crisp, the drums clatter compellingly, as if unable or unwilling to find a firm footing on the beat, and there's no denying the swoop of the chorus melody. But, since by ideology there's no jostling for space on a boygenius song, accomodating everyone makes "Not Strong Enough" feel like a whistle-stop insecurity sightseeing tour, where nobody has time to explore their stop. Julien Baker revs up a car crash fantasy that vanishes into the hook. Phoebe Bridgers' lyrical style -- rushes of home video vignettes designed to push out the waterworks -- doesn't always land for me, but she usually has more lines than this to give it a fair shake. As for the Lucy-led bridge...well, I'm sure it sounded cool in their heads. [6]

Taylor Alatorre: Designed more for Red Rocks than for headphones, the "angel/god" chant-along is the record's most obvious effort to transcend the comforting strictures of indie rock nichedom and instead seat the trio in their rightful place as arena rock eminences. It doesn't exactly do that, mainly because it telegraphs its intent too cleanly and presents too big of a contrast with the rest of the track's artful self-effacing. The good news for Boygenius is that it didn't need to do that, because everything that came before that point in the song was already grand and sweeping and buoyantly pensive enough to make any U2 comparisons seem beside the point. (Sorry, I'm not strong enough to avoid making a U2 comparison.) [7]

Brad Shoup: Along with Drop Nineteens' "Gal," one of two alt-rock tracks I'm aware of from this year that references a Cure song. I love how magisterial this sounds--elevated adult alternative -- how everyone gets to step into the light. "Always an angel/Never a god" seemed like a weird complaint to me at first -- I'd much rather be an angel, people don't get mad at you -- but I was missing the theme. [8]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: That acoustic guitar is strummed with enough vim that you can feel every clang. It provides an initial pulse, then too the bassline and snare. Everything just keeps marching along, traces of beauty found amid the doldrums: listen to those electric guitar flutters, arriving like sunlight upon your face; hear the way each vocalist's timbre provides new shades of beige. It has an everyday beauty that hides everyday pain. And then the bridge arrives: bullshit tedium in the name of profundity. Always content with the fine-enough, boygenius draw emotion from a vacantness that I wish were all-consuming. Those flickering synths announce a precious listlessness that reminds you that there's more -- I just wish it weren't so A24 meets Hallmark. [3]

Jonathan Bradley: "I don't know why I am the way I am," the Boys sing in turn, their thoughts so dislocated from their surroundings that walking through the kitchen might as well be speeding along a highway. An insistent drum rhythm hustles the decidedly gentle guitar arrangement, capturing with unsettling precision the feel of being completely lost while the world is rushing headlong without you. [8]

Jeffrey Brister: Writing about exactly WHY I like a song can be so difficult, because I love this one. It has a lush, full, utterly beautiful arrangement--an array of guitar sounds layered over one another, with a the right amount of synth flourishes that let the ear wander and notice things on repeated listens. Tightly played drums that aren't too reverb-drenched, dry enough to sit in the middle of the mix without overwhelming or getting lost, an anchor holding the song in place. Three incredible vocal performances, each pulling out different aspects of the melody, and singing in brilliant harmony. A structure that builds and breaks, that drives and explodes with melancholy. It's a song that I would simply say is "gorgeous", and leave it at that, but I feel like I wanted a bit of a word count. [9]

Will Adams: Eh, it's pretty, I guess. [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

#boygenius #julien baker #lucy dacus #phoebe bridgers #music #folk music #music writing #music reviews #music criticism #the singles jukebox #Youtube

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natromanxoff · 3 years ago

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Queen live at The Forum in Inglewood, CA, USA - September 15, 1982

Photos supplied by: Bill Cordero

(x)

This is the final concert Queen would ever play in North America. The tour was ultimately not nearly as successful as previous outings. Four nights at the LA Forum had become two. In a 1999 interview with Mojo magazine Roger Taylor recalled, "I remember suddenly realising that we weren't packing them in quite as much as we used to."

According to this review, Staying Power was played on the last night.

Billy Squier, who has opened for Queen at every show on this tour, joins them in the encore during a one-off version of Jailhouse Rock, adding vocals. Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting is also played before Bohemian Rhapsody for the last night's sake.

A bit of video from this show exists. The band are seen going through the corridor to the stage to begin the concert, and Michael Jackson is with them (thanks to Julien Cohen for the link).

Currently, recordings commonly labelled as being from one or both of these Los Angeles dates are from one of the umpteen bootlegs of the Fukuoka '82 shows. Genuine audience tapes and even an 8mm film are rumoured to exist (most likely due to the historic nature of this show), but have never been confirmed.

The concert pictures, snapped by Robert Matheu, are from Phil Sutcliffe's excellent book, The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock.

Here are a few more pro pics: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Reflecting on this tour, Squier had some kind things to say about Freddie Mercury. "He loved to perform. I think all the words about how great a performer he was have been used up. I just used to stand and watch him every night thinking, 'How do you do that? Just how do you get away with it?' It was the onstage Freddie that was most fearless. He believed in what he and the band were doing so much. He never projected the slightest fear or self-doubt and that just swept the audience along with him. He just knew that the show was going to work. He was made for the stage. His sense of theatricality was the key, and it was a key which so very few other rock performers have at their disposal."

About a week after this show, Brian May was interviewed for the January 1983 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Here are some excerpts:

"We used to do the song 'Son and Daughter' on stage, and the solo section in the middle of that became what was in 'Brighton Rock'. After 'Brighton Rock' was recorded, that solo evolved a lot more. One facet of it was the way it is on the live album, but it's changed a lot since then. Sometimes we've dropped it because I felt I got stale. I don't like to do exactly the same thing two nights running. That should be a time when you can do something different. Now we don't do "Brighton Rock" anymore, so it's gone full circle. In the beginning, the solo was there and the song was around it. And now the song's gone and the solo's there.

"It's just a delay machine set on one delay rather than a multiple, so it's not a sort of echo effect. It's one line coming back at you. I have two delay machines, so I can do three-part harmonies with that: I can play alone - maybe two or three notes - and then it comes back and I can play along with it. And then it comes back again and there are three parts. The delays are mostly about one and a half seconds. A lot of things can happen: You can play in synch with what comes back and make the harmonies, or you can play chords and then single notes on top to get a playing-in-rhythm effect. You can also do various kind of counterpoints. Sometimes they work. It all depends on whether I can hear myself well. If it's a good night and I can really hear well, I can do things that demand very close timing. On this tour I've been experimenting with steps which are not exactly on the beat: so when it comes back at you, they are in a different place each time. I found I could do all sorts of strange things with that, just making them mesh in a different way.

"I've thought it was obsolete many times. We've thrown it out. We haven't done it every night on this tour. But somehow it seems to creep back in there. It's weird. I did it for years, and nobody would talk about it. And then when I threw it out, people said, "Hey! How could you do that?" On this tour we did some special things with the lights. We had t hose pods which can fly about, and I used to do a little battle with those. That gave it a new lease on life. People would tend to notice that. As opposed to not saying anything, they would say, "I like the lights in the solo [laughs]." I've found that people seem to appreciate long solos more on this tour than they did before. I think a lot of people thought our material was veering too far away from the heavy side, and they thought the solo stuff redressed the balance to a certain extent.

"I didn't feel that this tour was making me very happy. I've often felt that in the studio, but that's the first time I felt it on tour. I didn't feel happy until the last concert. The last night in L.A. I felt quite cheered up. I was prepared to think, "Well, I don't really want to do this anymore." Somehow when it got to the last one, Freddie was really on form and giving a million precent, and I felt that it was going well. So the end of the tour finished on a good note for me. I felt like I did want to be out there doing it again sometime. But we are going to have a long rest." [Of course, after the six shows in Japan next month.]

Back in 1977 Brian was quoted saying, "We've always thought it was wrong to regard a tour purely as a promotional exercise, because some people have done that, and gone out and slogged away at the hits and the new album, and I don't think that makes for good touring." Maybe that's at least partly the reason why he didn't enjoy himself this time around.

(x)

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queen concerts

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drzewobojczyni · 4 years ago

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How to get rid of a spy (The Penguins of Madagascar)

Dostępna polska wersja/Polish version available

When in the central park ZOO a well-known to the penguins enemy appears, the only thing they can do is sending Private to get rid of him once and for all. No pairings

Old draft finished for @2020madagascarparty theme: Missions

DeviantArt

The day looked like it was going to be just great. In the cloudless sky the sun was shining, a slight wind was blowing, and the school year was coming to an end, so the Central Park ZOO animals could be sure that a lot of visitors was going to show up. Sadly, not everything went as well as it should have. At least, not for the penguins, standing in their habitat.

"Kowalski," – asked Skipper, looking through binoculars. "Can you see what I'm seeing?

"It depends on what's on your mind," responded Kowalski. "Technically, we're looking at the same group of early school-aged children, but I'm guessing you mean a certain person, whom I'm unable to recognize from this distance."

Skipper pulled himself together and handed the binoculars to his lower rank colleague. Kowalski took a look and reacted as the squad member predicted.

"Whoa, momma!" he yelled. "It's the same kid again!"

"What kid?" asked Private, appearing from the hatch.

Kowalski quietly handed him the binoculars. Private quickly found the familiar person in the crowd – this curious, intrusive gaze and notebook with pencil, clutched in hands, could not be mistaken could not be mistaken for anyone else.

"Skipper, it's the same boy that was spying on us!"

Skipper wanted to say that he had time to notice this, but he held back, preferring not to hurt Private's feelings. The young penguin needed to trust the leader.

"Well, we've got to come up with some plan to get rid of him once and for all. Kowalski, any suggestions?"

Kowalski had already opened his beak, but before he had an opportunity to say anything, three lemurs jumped into the habitat.

"Hello, silly penguins!" yelled king Julien

"Ringtail!" groaned Skipper. "We were just going to work on a plan of an extremely important mission!"

"It won't take long, " spoke up Maurice. "You see, a lot of visitors came here today..."

"Thank you, Maurice, the king can speak for himself," interrupted him Julien. "The thing is, when the humans start to throw these fish to you... you've got to eat them quickly, so it doesn't smell!!! And if not, I'll bait Mort on you!!!"

Said lemur tried to make a scary face, but because of his small size, it wasn't effective enough.

"That's all? You don't have to remind us of such things!" said Private

"If you said everything you wanted to say, go away, there's an important meeting happening here." Skipper pushed the lemurs in the direction of their habitat. "It concerns you as well, so be so kind and don't interrupt us."

"I also meant to tell you to not let yourselves get taken away from the ZOO," Julien kept on babbling. "Because lately some human took this Mort away, and now he can't come into our ZOO! If it keeps on going, we'll be left without food from humans." He wrung his hands in despair..

Skipper stopped chasing away the lemurs immediately.

"You've got to tell me everything in detail right now!"

"You won't be ordering a king around! Mort, Maurice, we're going!"

And they were gone

"Well, we have to get necessary informations ourselves." Skipper sighed. "Private, call Rico. We're going to check out how Mort got kidnapped and why nobody told us about it. I've got some sort of plan already."

Kowalski got sad. Although he hadno idea on how to get rid of the spy, but he was deeply hurt that Skipper hadn't even let him speak up. He had no intention to debate his leader.

Firstly, the penguins headed to Marlene's habitat. They found her quietly strumming her guitar

"Hello, my friend, I see you're relaxing before the hard work of entertaining humans?" started Skipper

Marlene angrily put her guitar away

"I guess I'll never teach you respecting other's privacy, won't I? Lets get this done. What's the reason of your visit?"she asked.

"We're looking for the informations concerning the kidnapping of certain lemur named Mort," responded Kowalski.

"What, again? In any case, I know nothing about this!"

"It's fine, Marlene, we mean an event from the past," calmed her down Skipper.

"Oh, you should have said it first! Although I haven't seen much, you would be better off asking, you know, the lemurs."

"Due to the reasons independent to us," lied Skipper smoothly, "we can't cooperate with them."

"Why do I have this weird feeling that the reasons are very much dependent to you," mumbled Marlene. "Okay, I'll tell you everything I know, but I remind, there's not much of it.

"Two days ago, a school field trip came. You guys weren't here, you went on some 'secret mission', didn't you? The kids weren't happy. Most of them headed farther, but some of them were lingering. I don't know, maybe they thought that you had been hiding somewhere. Suddenly, Julien kicked Mort right next to your habitat. So, one of the marauder shoved him into his bag. Somehow, he did it so well that it was noticed only after he got into the bus. That's all I know."

"And that's enough for us," said Skipper. "Farewell, Marlene, thank you for cooperating."

After these words, the whole penguin squad left as quickly as it appeared.

For a moment Marlene pondered on what the penguins could be planning. After all, she came to conclusion that she would find out one day, and got back to playing her guitar.

"You heard this yourself, Kowalski, we have to place Private..."

"Why me?" asked Private.

"...in the bag," finished Skipper, unfazed. "Kowalski, what options do we have?"

"I suggest using my newest invention – a homing penguin-catapult. There's fifty percent chance of hitting the target."

"Let me guess – and fifty percent chance that the catapult will blow up, turning the shootee into a pile of ash?"

"How did you know?"

"A good leader can predict elements that could make accomplishing the mission harder."

"Or maybe I'll just sneak up and jump into the boy's bag?" asked the potential victim of the device, which ended up with a slap on the beak.

"Private, do not question the leader's orders!"

Private wanted to say that no order had been given, but he decided to keep quiet, afraid of another stroke.

"Kowalski, we'll use your devilish invention," decided Skipper.

Transporting the device from the base to the park – with huge contribution from Rico – took surprisingly little time, even despite the necessity of dissasembling it and reassembling it on the spot. Kowalski was typing something into the console, glancing at his notes from time to time.

"Aren't we attracting even more attention this way?" asked Private, still hoping to reason with the squad.

"Are you questioning my orders again?" growled Skipper.

"From my calculations it appears that right here we are least likely to get caught," threw Kowalski without stopping clicking.

"Listen, Private," said Skipper much quieter. "Keeping the secrecy of our squad depends on your sacrifice. It's a very honorable task, and if I were you, I'd be proud of being entrusted with it."

"Calibration finished!" yelled Kowalski.

Private shivered at these words.

"It was an honor having you in the squad," said Skipper.

"I would like to remind that there's fifty percent chance that Private survives the shot," noted Kowalski, whose pride was hurt by Skipper's doubts.

"Oh, right. In this case, good luck, soldier," he spoke to Private. "May you land in the right fifty percent."

Private hesitantly scrambled up the catapult's bucket, and instructed by Kowalski, he got into the most airdynamic position. All that was left was pressing the launch button, which Kowalski did with the pleasure that always accompanied him when testing any of his inventions. Everything seemed to go according to the plan – Private shot into the air like a rocket.

"See, even the equipment is still whole," noticed Kowalski. "According to my calculations, Private should fall into the bag in ten sec..."

In that moment the cattapult blew up in the cloud of smoke. The explosion drew attention of the ZOO visitors, including the intrusive boy, who turned around in search of noise's source. Together with him moved his bag, which was the goal of Private's flight. The penguin fell flat onto the paved with concrete bricks alley.

Meantime, the remaining penguins were shaking off from underneath of scattered parts, just a few seconds ago assembled into a handy ensemble in the form of a catapult.

"Kowalski, analysis," wheezed Skipper, not stong enough to express anger with his voice.

"I didn't predict that the catapult could blow up only after the shot, heh heh..." the penguin laughed nervously, which earned him a stroke with the wing. A cloud of soot flew into the air.

Having disciplined the scientist, Skipper put his mind into further progress of the mission.

"Binoculars!" he yelled to Rico.

Sadly, Rico inhaled a lot of soot and got a coughing attack. Kowalski wanted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him, but because of his rapid movements he raised even more dust. Rico started to cough so strongly that he espectorated, in order: a rubber duck, ukulele, and something that looked a bit like a food processor, and a bit like a piggy bank. Luckily, a pair of binoulars joined them soon.

"I'm tracking him down, Skipper," said Kowalski, observing the terrain closely. "Wait... I think I've got him... yes, Private on the third! He landed according to my calculations... or rather he would, heven't the kid moved..."

"Is he conscious?" asked Skipper.

"Honestly, I doubt it, he's laying and not moving."

"Well then, let's go, our man is injured."

Three penguins sled to help the fourth squad member.

Meantime, Ronald tried to explain his teacher how the unconscious penguin showed up next to him.

"I'm telling you, it flew here from the park! Precisely, from over there!" He showed the direction with his hand.

"Penguins can't fly," responded Mrs Trevor

"Well, it looked more like it was thrown or shot here," the boy continued.

The woman had an unclear feeling that something like this had happened before, but she blamed it on the deja vu effect.

"All in all, it would be better to report it to one of employees," she proposed. "I think I can see someone! Wait for me!" She walked briskly towards the first person wearing a zookeepers uniform that she saw – in that case, Alice, driving a golfcart. The teacher tried to attract her attention by yelling, but the zookeeper was wearing headphones. The cart was moving farther and farther, forcing poor Mrs Trevor to run. A few students laughed, seeing this scene.

Meanwhile, the penguins were approaching their target.

Having heard Mrs Trevor's words, belittling his stories about penguins once again, Ronald sighed in despair. The boy had no idea how to prove his suspicions about the group of the birds right, and he definitely didn't want to end up like certain commonly considered a freak Mr X, about whom he often heard on the news. Although, on the other hand, another weirdo with the same obsession could direct attention of the public onto the right tracks.

Suddenly, with a corner of his eye, he noticed the penguins, sliding in his direction, which meant the risk of the unconscious bird being taken away by his peers. Ronald didn't want for it to happen during the teacher's absence. In a surge of genius he shoved the bird into the depths of his schoolbag.

Much to the boy's astonishment, the action caused the penguins to retreat suddenly into their habitat. He expected that the birds would rush to help their comrade, no matter what, but it seemed thet they were too selfish for this... or they had some other plan. Ronald was slowly starting to understand mr X.

After a moment, Mrs Trevor and the zookeeper Alice emerged from behind of the corner. The first of aforementioned women was explaining the other the circumstances of the event.

"We saw the penguin right here, didn't we, Ronald?" The teacher pointed under the boy's feet with her hand.

Alice appraised the habitat, then she moved her gaze to the boy.

"And you, I hope, had nothing to do with that?" she asked suspiciously.

"No, of course not!" He tried to hold his nervous grin back.

"If that's the case, where did he go?" asked Alice once again.

"And why didn't you stop him?" added Mrs Trevor.

The boy pondered for a moment.

"He went... in this direction!" He pointed at the park with his hand. "And I didn't stop him because I was afraid of him. I mean, I was afraid for him, I could have hurt him, and then what?"

"You'd be in trouble," mumbled Alice. "Alright, I'm going to take care of this situation." With these words, she turned arounds and walked away.

"I'll check out what the rest of the class is doing. Don't do anything stupid!" said the teacher, who left Ronald to his own devices as well.

As soon as the women left, the boy realised what he had done. The penguins seemingly let go of any attempts to save the colleague, which meant that the whole plan of revealing their secrets backfired. There was only one thing left – getting rid of the evidence imperceptingly and pretending that nothing happened. Ronald made sure that the animal hidden in his bag is still alive, and then he headed to the park.

In the bag, Private regained cosciousnes – and regretted it immediately. It was dark, stifling, and the edges of textbooks and notebooks were stabbing his body. He promised himself to never get involved in such a mission.

As if there were not enough problems, the only way of to find out his surroundings were outside sounds and the movements of the bag. From the sounds of the crowd slowly becoming quieter and rustling of the trees replacing them the penguin guessed that the boy is leaving the ZOO.

Private tried to escape before it was too late, but the velcro was holding strong, and the textbooks were giving no support. Constant jumps of the bag was not helping, either. The only thing left was waiting for a miracle.

The miracle turned out to be Alice.

The zookeeper was searching through the part of Central Park adjacent to the ZOO, asking the people about the penguin here and there. In the best cases she was met with polite denials, in the worst ones – laughter and unpleasant comments. Despite this, she was not giving up, mostly because of the spectre of paycheck cuts, or, even worse, losing her job, although concern for her charge was not leaving her alone, either.

"He couldn't run away too far," she mumbled. "You never know with these, though..."

She checked yet another bush, with no big results again. Resigned, she got up, turned around... and almost jumped, in front of herself seeing the boy, who informed her about missing penguin.

"It's you again!" she said, annoyed. "Well, then, have you seen anything?" she asked a bit nicer.

The boy shook his head, trying to hide his nervousness and the bag, in which he felt a slight movement. Luckily for him, it unnoticed by Alice.

"Okay, then." She shrugged. "If you see anything, let me know," she said, and left to search further.

Ronald was just waiting for Alice to leave him alone. He opened the bag and put the penguin on the ground. He was about to leave, when suddenly the zookeeper returned.

"I think I left..." She registered the scene unfolding in front of her. "… a pen here"

Ronald desperately tried to find some believable explanation, but before anything came to his mind, he felt as his wrist gets into Alice's iron grip.

In one hand holding the found penguin, and pulling the culprit of his disappearance with the other, the zookeeper triumphantly stepped into the ZOO. Both red-faced – although because of different reasons – they stood before the face of the teacher, who was standing next to the gate.

"Your student," said Alice, coldly as ice, "endangered thed life of on of our penguins.

"But how...?" asked Mrs Trevor, glaring at the boy, who tried to turn himself invisible with willpower.

"I put him into my bag and ran away to the park," exploded Ronald. "But you see, they were spying on me one time..."

"You must understand that I can't allow for such a situation to repeat," interrupted him Alice. "If you can't keep an eye on your students, I'm forced to ban the whole class from going to this ZOO."

"But..."

"You have ten minutes to gather the children and leave the garden. Good bye."

Alice turned around dramatically to put the badly battered flightless back in his habitat.

Meanwhile, the other penguins were observing the situation from hideout, lazily chewing popcorn. As soon as the zookeeper started to march towards their habitat, the threw the snacks between bushes and sled back to their place before she could notice their absence.

"Well, Private," said Skipper. "You managed better than I expected."

"Thank you, Skipper," responded Private. "But it's more of a coincidence..."

"Don't be so modest, you deserve a reward."

Skipper looked around. Seeing that most of the people had already left, he uncovered the base's hatch and jumped inside. The rest of the squad followed him.

Inspired by a certain post

#2020madagascarparty #Penguins of Madagascar #The Penguins of Madagascar #Penguins of Madagascar fanfiction #The Penguins of Madagascar fanfiction #my fanfiction #shit by me

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forestgreenlesbian · 4 years ago

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ook i am just going to dump my thoughts!

think i was like? semi worried because she kept talking about how different this album was going to be from stranger and i love stranger i love her soft acoustic stuff so i was a little nervous it would be so different that i wouldn’t like it but literally i’m a whole idiot because it’s like stranger but with the production turned up to ten.. think i might actually call it a perfect album??? like perfect for me subjectively i really love every single song i’ve been having a breakdown for three days straight... feels sort of like a bon iver esque transition from soft folk to more varied instrumentation and production like the growth between for emma and 22 a million but even better... glad i listened to the leak because i actually have to get shit done today and i would not have been able to hear it for the first time fdkggmn

ok les go love dvd menu as an intro yes i am a sucker for instrumental tracks + that interview where phoebe said she’d love to do a whole instrumental album and have it as a score for a film like portrait of a lady on fire.... christ....and the transition into garden song is like chefs kiss i loved garden song as soon as it was out as a single so moody and beautiful she told me my resentments getting smaller i know i know

kyoto god god i love how she leaned into the pop aspects also stare at the chem trails with my little brother literally any time she mentions jackson i have a stroke older sister complex etc etc and the little woo sound she kept in there i’m? in love with her?

punisher is just. makes me feel a bit like i have a hole in my chest lol such a well balanced and moving tribute to elliott who i’m ngl i was never that into but just the whole concept and the chorus and the feeling like you owe this person something for inspiring you so much but at the same time never wanting to actually meet them

i was a lil eh about halloween at first i think mayb because the verse is not my fave even tho the lyrics are as usual incredible but the chorus is just so sweet like i want to cry lol and the guitar that is mr christain lee lose this number hutchinson at work babey! conor’s feature is nice tho in some ways i’m a bit like did he really add anything to the song love the outro though the way the tune goes off as it fades

CHINESE SATELLITE............ might b my fave currently... it’s the strings fucking hell it is the STRINGS that was the first song i listened to because somehow i just knew it was going to gut me and i was right i can’t stop listening to it. the lyrics are just.. too much.. pretending to be myself... i wish i wrote it but i didn’t so i learn the words.. i look at the sky and i feel nothing... i believe when you’re gone it’s forever... like WHAT am i supposed to do with that????? i know she talked about how this song originally had like a big U2 esque chorus lol and how they pared it back and i’m so glad because the impact of the verses and then the softer chorus is just. a lot it’s a lot i told you this was the scott street of punisher because every second makes me go insane ngfmfng

ok getting onto the songs clearly about c*nor lmao i don’t rlly want to focus on that glad that he was there to provide inspo for such ART but the whole situation makes me feel weird don’t know why but we are not dwelling! i heard her play moon song on one of her livestreams and i was like. already in love but the studio version is so good... the lyrics again she’s just so like unabashed in how she loves and how it can be ugly and hard and beautiful at the same time... and the dig at eric claption just because she hates him.. queen!

god savior complex apparently she wrote the melody in a dream???? jesus christ anyway i feel like it calls back to stranger in such a nice way and also has such a nice sense of place like we are in that car! we are there in that one room apartment! i know she said it’s about loving someone who hates themselves (so [redacted] then, we all know ms phoebe) which is a lot but it also feels a bit like a lullaby to me so soft

i see you.......... one that grew on me until i literally couldn’t think about anything else when i heard it as a single i was like ok yes! fun! great! but the more i listened to it and after i heard the demo i just lost my mind every time i think about “i used to light you up, now i can’t even get you to play the drums” i go insane it’s scott street again god bless marshall vore and his drums! damn! also the way she sings i’ll climb through the window again.. feels like a throat punch

can’t even type graceland too without wanting to cry how is this song so beautiful think it might be my fave after chinese satellite it is just. the most beautiful thing how many times am i gonna use that word a lot apparently but again the sense of place is there and it just feels like? such a healing moment after all the previous songs. especially with lucy and julien on there like! the harmonies!! ladies!!! there’s something almost fleetwood mac about it as well it makes me think of silver springs and obviously the dixie chicks influence basically it’s perfect send post

i know the end is SUCH a good closer.. the screaming alone.. i knew we were going to be blessed with some yelling thank you ms bridgers also the strings in this one too i love a violin apparently fuck me and god it gives me such sufjan vibes circa illinois era like esp the outro with everyone singing together and the horns and where she takes the melody... think she mentioned suf actually in that stereogum interview i’m really imploding.... and the end with her soft screaming and the cough i’m. i love how it feels like two parts interwoven like a lot of my fave songs do and the way it BUILDS man that whole section makes me want to lie on the ground and wait for the end... when the drums kick in....the sound effect when she sings about lightening.... when everyone joins in on the end is here.... the way the tone changes for the outro with the screaming.... ok this is long i should stop but basically congrats on a perfect album phoebe i’ll never recover! :~)

#this is an essay dnr fdgnnbgn #i warned you all

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grimelords · 5 years ago

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The hits just don’t stop coming!

My May playlist is finished and it’s only almost one month late! Everything you want and nothing you don’t from Nicki Minaj, the band that did the OC theme song and Italian Adele. What more could you ask for!

Listen here!

Curious - Amerie: Amerie, who sang the world's greatest song 1 Thing and unfortunately never had any other good songs, surprise released a 22 minute album called 4AM Mulholland and a companion EP that was 20 minutes long called After 4AM last year. I don't know why she didn't just release one normal length album but anyway, because she's Amerie people weren't exactly eagerly awaiting a surprise release album from her so it came and went pretty quickly. This song though is really very good and sets a really nice midnight smoky tone that the whole rest of the album/EP unfortunately fails to really live up to. I also found out in my research that Amerie is also apparently a semi-influential book vlogger 'BookTuber' and last year edited a book of YA short stories where other BookTubers 'reimagined fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view. She's got heaps going on.

Vipers Follow You - Amon Tobin: Amon Tobin has lost his damn mind yet again. His last album was 8 years ago and it sounded like a hardware test for a new kind of million dollar sound system. Every single type of sound and frequency was crammed into it and it felt like a sound sculture that could physically attack you rather than an album that you listened to for fun. Now his new album sounds like the direct opposite. There's no drums on it at all and it's all stripped back thick and smooth acoustic-modelled textures and it's very nice. This song is a good example of the album feel overall: not exactly ambient or laid-back, but definite night music from a guy who has gone all the way from chillout trip-hop to walls of hydraulic noise over his career and it's always such a thrill to hear people pushing forward in their sound 9 albums in.

Do The Panic - Phantom Planet: Phantom Planet who famously did the theme song for The OC have reformed and released their first new song in ten years. This isn't that song but there was a bunch of people in the comments on the Stereogum article about it saying they were and underrated band and their 2008 album Raise The Dead has bangers and guess what: they were right!

Roman Holiday - Nicki Minaj: Roman Holiday reentered the billboard charts last month because it became relevant again via people putting it in memes where they would play a sped up version of the song over sped up videos of.. anything really. It's not a very good meme but I thank god for it because otherwise I would never have learned that it's a very good song. I also think there's a very interesting lesson to be learned here about Nicki Minaj because she premiered this song at the 2012 Grammys before Roman Reloaded came out with an elaborate Exorcist routine and everyone hated this extremely weird song and extremely weird performance so it was scrapped as the first single and they put out Starships instead. Nicki Minaj seem to me like an artist that has always struggled to ride the line between pop marketability and doing their own unique thing in much the same way as Eminem, and just like Eminem she's eventually settled in to a very safe and marketable version of herself. Roman Holiday is a glimpse of the Nicki That Could Have been that just starts singing Come All Ye Faithful in the middle of a song and does the chorus in an extremely dodgy British accent. There's a good bit on the wiki for this song that quotes Jessica Hooper's Spin review that says "the pop tracks are a paying of the piper and the too-perfect, Dr. Luke-produced songs are her penance for sneaking deranged yodeling ode 'Roman Holiday' in there." More deranged yodelling odes please Nicki!

Cousins - Vampire Weekend: I've never gotten into Vampire Weekend for an unknown reason. I like every song I've heard of theirs I've just never properly sat down and listened to an album and appreciated it until Father Of The Bride this year. I have however always loved Cousins. It’s got a completely deranged riff, the drums sound like their going to catch fire and it ends with chiming bells. It’s completely off the rails and I think the video is one of my favourites ever for just simply matching the tone of the song and the performance.

Lost Your Number - Nu Shooz: On the episode of R U Talkin' R.E.M Re: Me? with Ezra Koenig they were talking about grunge and the early 90s and how music that had 'authenticity' suddently became so popular. Scott's reasoning was that by the late 80s pop music had become so incredibly vaccuous and bad that people were yearning for anything with meaning. He said 'pop was so bad, stuff like Nu Shooz' and I immediately remembered how fucking good Nu Shooz are and paused the podcast to listen to them instead. This is an absolutely great song because the lyrics never rise above linear storytelling. 'I lost your number' is not a metaphor for lost contact or leaving someone or anything like that. This whole song is about trying to call someone but you've lost the piece of paper that you wrote their phone number on. She even describes the paper like maybe you the listener have seen it around somewhere, I absolutey love it.

Paper Trail$ - Joey Bada$$: Joey Bada$$ is a goon but he has good songs sometimes. If he wasn't a famous rapper he would be working full time in reddit arguments where people rank members of the Wu-Tang Clan. He's one of these 'real hip hop' 'lyrical miracle' guys and he even goes so far as to rework C.R.E.A.M in this song to say cash RUINS everything around me :O but this beat is nice as hell and I woke up with the bit where says 'shit is really real out here' repeating in my head.

Julien - Carly Rae Jepsen: I'm really loving this new Carly Rae album. It's not as heavy on hits as Emotion obviously but it's more even overall and has a lot more to dig into I think. I just keep listening to it. This song especially is so nice because it's a great example of how you only need two chords to get something extremely funky going.

Rock Non Stop - Cassius: Cassius finally have another great song! The nearly two minute choral intro is such genius because of how suddenly and forcefully it drops you into the middle of the most boneheaded dance song I've heard in a long time. Two different silly voices going back and forth with each other saying 'rock non stop' and 'gimme the good time', who could ask for anything more?

Just as I was about to publish this I saw the news that Phillipe Zdar died which is so sad! Just as they started releasing fantastic new music! So now this song is tinged with that sort of sadness which is unfair because it’s such a fun and silly piece of music, it doesn’t deserve to hold that kind of weight.

DOLO 5 - Dolo Percussion: This Dolo Percussion album absolutely astounded me. No melody! Just drums! For an hour and a half! It's a complete world of its own and you can get totally lost in the depths of it. Every song has a completely unique palette and it never ever feels boring like percussion focused music sometimes can, it's constantly evolving in every track and never settles into anything for too long. Things just come and go so naturally it feels like actually trying to figure out the structure of these songs would be impossible. There's a few moments where there's a hint of a bassline or melody in a some of the later songs and it completely shakes you up, like seeing sunlight again after years of absolutely thriving in the dark.

Song About An Angel - Sunny Day Real Estate: The way he sings 'running behind' in this is maybe one of my favourite pieces of vocal performance ever. He just shouted himself apart. Also the Genius description of this song is one of the best emo sentences I’ve ever seen: "The song is believed to be a conversation between a guy and an angel (possibly a girl)."

This Life - Vampire Weekend: The R U Talkin' R.E.M. Re: Me? episode with Ezra really put this album into a lot more context for me, because he's talking about being influenced by The Grateful Dead - not musically exactly but in the mindset and the idea of being in a guitar band and making guitar music in 2019 which is an interesting thing to think about. Anyway this has such a Dead feel to it and I'm really interested to see what they do live because as I've heard they're really mixing up their reputation of being a band that sounds exactly like the album and really going for it instead and doing absolutely anything which is a lot more fun.

The Past Is A Grotesque Animal - of Montreal: I've been getting heavily into Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer? this month and it's just so incredible. This song especially as the centrepiece of this whole album is amazing. The mindset is so intriguing to me: absolutely going though it in the worst way possible, getting divorced and everything like that but also somehow managing to keep it twee. The sorts of things that influenced this album would turn any normal person to heavier or stranger music but somehow he manages to believe so hard in the power of twee indie pop that he pushed it to the limit and create a masterpiece.

The Cascades - Janice Scroggins: You know that tweet about riding the bus and looking out the window and pretending the music you're listening to is the soundtrack to the movie about you riding the bus? That's me except with Scott Joplin rags and pretending i'm in a silent film where I embarrass myself in front of a society lady.

The Governor - Nicolas Jaar: I think i’ve probably already had this song on a playlist like three times so I’m going to stop talking about it but here’s my favourite thing this time: It could have just ended and been fine but instead it goes to saxophone hell and that’s what makes this a 10/10 song.

The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala: My peabrain moment this month was suddenly developing a huge obsession with this song for some reason. Have you guys heard of this band ‘Tame Impala’? I really feel like they might blow up! One of my favourite things about this song is that the top youtube comment for a long time was ‘this is like the cuck anthem’. They’re right!

New Town - Life Without Buildings: Life Without Buildings feels like indie rock from another dimension. This came out in 2000 and for some reason I can't reconcile that fact with how it sounds. It sounds like it should have come out at least 5 years later. I cannot imagine this style of vocal ever working so effectively but somehow it just does. I'm hanging on absolutely every word and feeling it so intensely when in reality she sounds like something went wrong with the recording. I just love it.

Bang Bang Bang - Mark Ronson And The Business Intl: This is a hugely underrated song and this era of Mark Ronson seems to have been totally forgotten which is unfortunate. This song, Bad Romance by Lady Gaga and OMG by Usher all came out around the same time in my memory and I remember feeling very optimistic for the direction pop seemed to be heading in. Bombastic and unique and unafraid to be structurally different but then it turned out it wasn’t really a trend at all, it was just three great songs. So who knows.

Back To The Trees - Adele H: I suddenly remembered this song I completely fell in love with last year and remembered as a moderate hit only to find that it has <1000 listens on spotify and 300 on youtube. Simply not good enough, please listen to this song! Support my friend and yours Adele H: ‘The Italian Adelian’

Out There - Studio: What’s so good about Studio is it’s technically an electronic duo but it has the feeling of a jam jam band. Their wiki article is obviously written by their management but it also describes them as an ‘afrobeat-dub-disco-indie-pop adventure’ which is very true. It’s an adventure! It just keeps moving on and on through fifty flavours of groove!

Shut Up Kiss Me - Angel Olsen: This really is maybe the best love song ever written! Because it's about standing firm and not giving up on love! Stop pretending I'm not there when it's clear I'm not going anywhere / If I'm out of sight then take another look around!

Through This Town - Mia Dyson: If you ever need an optimistic song to lay down on the floor to then here's one.

Cry Flames - Rustie: I'm on my usual shit about how good Glass Swords was and how that it's a tragedy that this never coalesced into a major movement like it should have. This is such a good sound that just kind of disappeared because vaporwave and everything overlapped with the boring parts of it and the anime chillout version became popular instead. Sad!

Real Truth (feat. Tkay Maidza) - J-E-T-S, Machinedrum and Jimmy Edgar: I love this beat so much. The sort of beat that sounds like it's playing out of a droid that got shot with a lazer and is malfunctioning.

Aute Cuture - Rosalia: me putting these lyrics through google translate: oh my god she’s right this IS on fire

Self-Immolate - King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard: King Gizz are a metal band now and they're writing the very best kind of metal songs - sci-fi about burning to death in the skies of Venus that's also a climate change parable.

Magic Arrow - Timber Timbre: Timber Timbre feel underrated to me. I never see anyone talking about them but they're one of the most consistently great bands around, I absolutely love them. There's so much space in this song, this whole style of minimal production is underutilised. It feels like if Wicked Game by Chris Isaak was about an 18th century cult leader instead which I think we can all agree is a much improved song.

Kim's Caravan - Courtney Barnett: I love this style of songwriting where you just sit on an extremely heavy bassline the whole time and have no chorus, which affords you the freedom to just get bigger and bigger and smaller as you wish. The Drones cover of River Of Tears works like this too and I think it's just masterful.

When The Movie's Over - Twin Shadow: My belief is Confess is front to back one of the greatest pop albums ever written. Please, please listen to it and be moved.

listen here

#playlists

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nomorepennies · 6 years ago

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How Carly Rae Jepsen Became Pop’s Most Beloved Underdog BY RAISA BRUNER MAY 21, 2019 [...] And now it’s spring 2019, and Jepsen has just released Dedicated following a period of personal and professional shake-ups. “I wanted to indulge in all the extremes of everything I was going through at the time,” Jepsen tells me of her new music. That includes a breakup, weeks spent traveling solo through Italy, working in a songwriting camp in Nicaragua, the beginnings of a new relationship and a process that involved writing over 200 songs before whittling down the track list. “I still feel like I can’t believe this is my job, and in order to deserve it, I need to hustle,” she says. She sounds almost breathless as she tries to get this across. But she has a guiding principle: “I’ve learned that the best things that work are what comes from the heart, really.” That deep-seated sincerity means fans see her less as an idol—an untouchable, goddess-level megastar—than as a person they can trust, a celebrity who seems like a friend. That’s true of plenty of contemporary artists who have built careers on a platform of authenticity, of course, but Jepsen stands apart: Not everyone has a fan-driven festival dedicated to them, like Jepsen has had with the multi-year CarlyFest. [...] Jepsen is also something of a pop artist’s pop artist. “I’ve never been attracted to the celebrity side of being an artist. I do it for the fun,” she says. Singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers, whose star rose thanks to her own viral hit, “Alaska,” which was co-signed by Pharrell Williams, says she’s grateful for Jepsen—both as a creator who opened her eyes to the breadth of what pop music could be, and as an industry example of how to navigate the rapids of fame without losing her identity. “When I was struggling with my virality, for lack of a better word, and the pressure, and finding peers that shared that experience, she really opened her doors,” Rogers says, recalling a dinner with Jepsen in L.A. “Pop at its best makes it look easy. And Carly makes it look completely effortless. It’s easy to tell the truth with you and an acoustic guitar. It’s hard to tell the truth with a synthesizer and a drum beat. But she never misses.” On Dedicated, Jepsen let her instincts guide her through a range of sounds and feelings, exploring the wealth of “colors and flavors” that she wanted to express after “Call Me Maybe”: See the “chill disco” of “Julien,” the blissful self-love pop of “Party for One” and the euphoric ’80s energy of “Want You in My Room.” Jepsen is unafraid of feeling feelings and expressing them in a pure, direct way. “I think it’s very cool to be uncool and just shamelessly feel it all,” she says; she’s not confident in a song until she’s escalated its emotion “times 100.” Her song “Too Much” is practically a mission statement. “When I feel it, then I feel it too much/I’ll do anything to get the rush,” she sings, then turns it around: “Is this too much?” She’s an expert in intensity; even in the studio, she says, she ends up standing and dancing as she’s working. Not that Jepsen’s all sunshine and butterflies—but she’s certainly known for exuding a type of accessible positivity. Growing up, she says, her mother’s word for her was “joy.” This is part of what proves so magnetic for fans who find her relatable. Writer and fan Lily Puckett was so inspired by Jepsen’s music that she launched a weekly online newsletter just to unpack every track of E•MO•TION in lengthy musings for months. “If she weren’t Carly Rae Jepsen, she would be like ‘our friend, Carly,'” Puckett says. Rogers also connects to her relatability. “It didn’t feel like she was ever lying to me. Britney and her python—there was such a facade,” she says. “Carly, she feels like your girl friend immediately.” Same thing for Vazquez, who says he thinks the fan community finds her humility “endearing.” The feeling is mutual. At one of her first big shows in New York at Irving Plaza, Jepsen was “incredibly nervous,” she says. But everything changed when she walked in the room. “You know how you can feel a hippie-ish energy? It was so full of love,” she says. “It felt like I could walk out there and fall flat on my ass, and everybody would be like ‘It’s OK! Get up and try again!’” FULL ARTICLE

#carly rae jepsen #crj #shaking & crying going to her first show in van!!!!

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dustedmagazine · 6 years ago

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Dust Volume 5, Number 3

Photo by Rene Block, Courtesy of the John Cage Trust

In like a lion, that’s how we’ll do March at Dusted, which is to say in a gigantic leap, with blood and innards trailing from a toothy predator’s mouth. Well, that’s the hope, but actually, we’ll probably just listen to some music and write some reviews. Case in point: this edition’s Dust candidates, which include sci-fi techno, a blissed out dub version of “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” a Portuguese guitar duel, some churning stomach fluids and a percussive interpretation of koan-like John Cage. This time, the team was limited—just Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly, Jonathan Shaw and Peter Taber—but mostly enthusiastic. We hope you’ll find something to like, too.

CMD — Obscure Worlds (Several Reasons)

Obscure Worlds by CMD

On the face of it, CMD’s Obscure Worlds is a sci fi-themed techno album, which doesn’t do much to separate it from the broader genre. Scratch the surface, and you find an album of detailed techno vignettes that refuse to stand still. In less than three minutes, “Uneven Landing” layers crushed static onto knocking digital debris, with a rapid-fire kick added to the mix two minutes in. On “Obscure Manifestation” a foundation of pulsing static sets the stage for otherworldly peals of feedback. “Death of a Galaxy” reaches toward the undulating bass engineering of an Yves de Mey track. “Through the Wormhole” hints at industrial fuzz a la AnD while maintaining a bit more restraint, with a switch-up in the kick pattern four minutes in that isn’t exactly characteristic for techno. Given the density of musical ideas, many of the tracks could have been extended, but they last long enough to satisfy. If the album’s concept was intended to prompt a creative, concise set of techno variations, it did the trick. Obscure Worlds feels like getting a glimpse into a techno sound-design obsessive’s sketchbook, in the best possible way.

Peter Taber

Julien Desprez / Luís Lopes—Boa Tarde (Shhpuma)

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The title translates from Portuguese as Good Afternoon, and from the sound of this record it was. Both Julien Desprez and Luís Lopes are known for bringing the electricity to jazz ensembles, but when you put a couple of guitarists together it’s possible that they will connect around the instrument, not any particular genre. So it is here, but just what instrument are we talking about? The electric guitar? The amplifier? The pedals? Or all of the above? Let’s go with the latter, because this music is more about the interplay of timbres, textures, contours and sound waves than melodies, harmonies or beats. Imagine the jousting of train sounds issuing from converging valleys, the shudder of twin flexing suspension bridges or maybe just the shared sweet spots of a couple guys who probably wore out more than one CD player spinning Thurston Moore and Nels Cline’s Pillow Wand. Or don’t imagine at all, just listen to this artifact of one good afternoon in Lisbon.

Bill Meyer

Carol Genetti / Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson — Chyme (Suppedeneum)

Carol Genetti’s vocals operate beyond the boundaries of language. On Chyme, which is named after that gurgling stuff that sloshes around in your stomach after you eat, she electronically manipulates and juxtaposes sounds that humans have been making since before they thought up the first words. You might get disoriented trying to make sense of her pre-lingual exhalations and utterances, so visual artist Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson has prepared a listening score for each of the CD’s four tracks. Each score is a vibrantly colored, circuitously shaped paper cutout, the handling of which will put you (back?) in touch with the experience of pre-GPS, map-based navigation. Anderson’s combination of vibrant colors and text cues prod you out of passive listening and into a vocal / visual interaction with the sounds, which are by turns eerily beautiful and absolutely hackle raising. You will not encounter another record like Chyme.

Bill Meyer

Golden Daze—Simpatico (Autumn Tone)

Simpatico by Golden Daze

Hold up, you don’t need musical difficulty all of the time. No, there are hours and days and (occasionally) weeks when you don’t want propulsion or tension or contradictory impulses in your tunes. Life itself is full of that shit. You want something easy. You want something like Golden Daze’s Simpatico, an edgeless, frictionless, limpid pool of baroque pop, with soft whispery vocals and sumptuous clouds of guitar flurries and bright bars of electronic keyboards, unending prettiness, unconflicted lemon-y wistfulness. “Blue Bell,” the single, is like the Clientele with the bones picked out, an enveloping haze of pastel colored sound. There’s a bit of drumming in a song called “Drift,” but it only seems to heightened the disembodied floating-ness of the song’s breathy sway. “Simpatico,” at the end, emerges out of haze and fog, with warm, brushes of guitar and soft, dreaming verses, then slips out of sight. Golden Daze indeed.

Jennifer Kelly

Golia, Kaiser, Moses, Smith, Walter — Astral Plane Crash (Balance Point Acoustics)

BPA 18 Astral Plane Crash by Golia / Kaiser / Moses / Smith / Walter

p>Henry Kaiser, Damon Smith and Weasel Walter are Plane Crash, a guitar-bass-drums trio tough enough that it doesn’t have to act tough. The musicians’ common bonds are an appreciation for the atomized activity of vintage English free improvisation and a shared determination to communicate intensity through intent and focus, not bluster. Things get cosmic when you bring in West coast woodwind veteran Vinny Golia and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses, who played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk at an age when most kids are first trying to cadge their parents’ car keys. Moses and Golia had never played together, but they roomed in the 1960s, and their presence complicates Astral Plane Crash’s prevailing MO of quick micro-interaction in interesting ways. The flutes and saxophones run thick and slow under APC’s dust devil swirl. And Moses and Walter sound like their having a blast making like converging storm clouds, each pelting hail stones from a different direction so there’s no way you won’t get a chill down your neck. At two tracks and a hair under 80 minutes, this is all-in stuff, but when the changes come as quick and compelling as they do here that’s a feature, not a bug.

Bill Meyer

Matt Hannafin / John Cage—Four Realizations For Solo Percussion (Notice Recordings)

Four Realizations for Solo Percussion by John Cage & Matt Hannafin

In a life of ideas that spans 79 years, a guy might change his mind. John Cage famously expressed disregard for jazz, the most notable American manifestation of musical improvisation in the 20th century. But his problem was more with corrosive expressions of the self and human prejudice than it was with improvisation per se, thus his preference for chance operations. You can’t impose your personal bullshit when you submit to the random. Near the end of his life he dropped his opposition enough to write compositions that invited improvisation, which was distinct from chance operations. If that sounds like a convoluted process, consider the name of this tape’s first piece. “c Ȼomposed Improvisation for One-Sided Drums with or without Jangles” reads like a koan, which makes some sense given Cage’s engagement with Buddhist teachings. That’s just one of the four pieces that Oregonian percussionist Matt Hannafin recorded for this tape (or download, which is probably a more Buddhist format than a tape). In his hands, Cage’s music becomes a vehicle for feeling both the presence of a healthy blow and the unoccupied presence of the variably proportioned spaces where Hannafin isn’t hitting anything.

Bill Meyer

Gerrit Hatcher — Parables for the Tenor (Astral Spirits)

Parables For The Tenor by Gerrit Hatcher

One listener’s marvelously wigged-out sound is another’s torture. An audience member’s transformative listening experience might be in response to a sound producer’s moment of hollow display. You might hate a person’s most sincere expression or be deeply moved by something they do with their fingers and lungs while they try to remember where they left their bottle opener. Chicago-based tenor saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher had these existential quandaries in mind as he recorded the six solo tracks on this tape, and who’s to say if that’s why this music has such bite? Maybe it’s better to note that he makes sounds that feel linked to the work of certain Sun Ra associates and Archie Shepp into statements that don’t sound irrelevant at the tail end of the second decade of the 21st century. Hang with him while he blows and you might be changed, either because he’s ripping transformative shapes in the air or because that’s already where you’re taking yourself. Either way, what do you have to lose?

Bill Meyer

Hübsch Martel Zoubek — Otherwise (Insub)

Otherwise by Hübsch, Martel, Zoubek

There’s a world of improvised music that never crosses that precious Yankee border, and this is group is part of that world. Take one German tuba player, one Canadian viola da gamba player and another German on piano, throw in some pitch pipes and a synthesizer and what do you have? You have the raw material for a session of highly refined interaction. On the spectrum from process-oriented to outcome-oriented improvisation, these musicians tend more to the latter pole. The piano has been prepared to render gamelan-in-a-box sonorities, the tuba’s tones consistently gravitate towards ground-liquifying depths and the strings buzz in splintered contrast. The music unfolds patiently, never lapsing into clutter or confusion, and yet it never telegraphs the next move.

Bill Meyer

Jäh Division—Dub Will Tear Us Apart…Again (Ernest Jenning)

Dub Will Tear Us Apart...Again by Jäh Division

A jokey side hustle with an aughts all-star psychedelic pedigree, Jäh Division grooved hard, if obscurely, joining a love of dub, a reverence for Joy Division and a clutch of old keyboard gear. The line-up well exceeded solid with Brad Truax on booming, reverb drenched dub bass, Barry London manning a garage sales’ worth of vintage electronics (Roland RS-09, Realistic Concertmate MG-1, a Moog) and Kid Millions busting up organic and synthetic drums. This disc collects songs from a 2004 12-inch, plus bonus material including covers of Desmond Dekker’s “Fu Manchu” and Jackie Mittoo’s “Champion of the Arena.” These two are trippily wonderful, but the heart of this goofy fever dream is a nodding, pulsing, synth wreathed version of “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” It’s a jam that could go on for days or last only a second (technically it goes ong a bit over four minutes), as it distills post-punk and reggae and experimental art rock into an unending now.

Jennifer Kelly

Miscarriage — Imminent Horror (Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

Imminent Horror by Miscarriage

Much alike Stormy Daniels’ description of the Chief Executive’s fungoid phallic member, the world didn’t really need this tape from international doom metal crew Miscarriage (who hail from Sweden and the United States) — but now that Imminent Horror is here, it’s sort of hard to ignore. And once you’ve heard it, you’ll have a hard time removing it from your memory, much as you might like to. Lots of metal bands like to talk about how “disgusting” and “putrid” their music is. Miscarriage do more than talk. The noises they make sound and feel like a huge bubble of noxious gas painfully working its way through a diseased intestinal track. It’s slow. It’s gross. It doesn’t create any sort of pleasure. It’s only minimally more coherent than listening to the aforementioned Chief Executive attempt to speak in complete sentences. In all those ways, Miscarriage have made music for our times. Good luck to us all.

Jonathan Shaw

Shady Bug—Lemon Lime (Exploding in Sound)

Lemon Lime by Shady Bug

Shady Bug, out of St. Louis, makes a mathy pop so stretchy and bendable that you expect a bo-oi-oi-ing when its wandering melodies snap back into place. Under the guidance of classically trained Hannah Rainey, the band sets up intricate, jerry-rigged machinations that work by their own logic. Yet though complicated, these tunes have a vulnerable sweetness to them, mainly due to Raines’ hiccupy sincere delivery, which tips and lists as the wind blows. “Make It Up,” the single floods the sonic plane with power-washing blasts of amplified guitar, then cuts to a jittery next-to-nothing of angling, cross-cutting guitar lines. It’ll remind you of Pavement and, more recently, Speedy Ortiz, except in a fetching, kid-sibling-ish way that tugs at your sleeve and your heart.

Jennifer Kelly

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ulyssessklein · 7 years ago

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Perla Hudson Interview: Slash, Dinosaurs and Helping the Youth of L.A.

By: Rick Landers

We thought we’d click back to one of our favorite articles, one we had with Slash’s wife, Perla Hudson. So, here you go and enjoy the ride!

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Perla Hudson, the wife of Velvet Revolver’s legendary guitar player, Slash, has navigated the depths and ridden the crests of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle for a decade. And no one would be surprised if she simply wrapped herself in that self-indulgent lifestyle that we hear about that beckons and, sometimes, overcomes the rich and famous. But, we spoke to Perla, and she let us know that she and her husband had more important things to take care of and nurture.

As much as she enjoys the raucous highlights of the rock ‘n’ roll fantasy, Perla has invested time and effort into being a mother to her two growing boys, keeping the home fires burning with her husband, and helping the disenfranchised youth of Los Angeles. She has supported the work of L.A.’s Department of Children’s Services. She’s also served on the Board of Directors, and more recently on the Advisory Committee, of the L.A. Youth Network (LAYN). And when she talks about it, she’s not only committed, she’s passionate.

And now, both she and Slash are offering up a treasure trove of their possessions to help fund LAYN programs to benefit children who are homeless and need the kindness and guidance of caring adults. Their Slash and Rock Legends Auction will be held by the famous Julien’s auction house beginning March 26, 2011, and will feature some of the hippest and coolest prized possessions owned by the Hudsons.

On this list is some Slash signature gear, like a stage-worn Chrome Hearts leather top hat; his GNR silver cuff, a one-of-a kind custom Stravinski Fender Stratocaster, his B.C. Rich Red Mockingbird axe, pieces from his prized dinosaur collection and the coup de grace, Slash’s beloved 1966 big block Corvette coupe.

The Slash and Rock Legends auction should rake in some serious cash, all for a good cause. We at Guitar International tip our black leather top hats to Slash and Perla, for reflecting not only the best in rock ‘n’ roll, but the best in all of us.

******

Perla and Slash – Image courtesy of Gibson Guitars.

Rick Landers: Hey, I just found out that you’re Cuban. Do you dance salsa?

Perla Hudson: Of course I do! I’m cooking Cuban food for dinner tonight, too.

Rick: Are you really? Good for you. I guess Cuba should be opened up fairly soon, right? Do you think you’ll ever go down there?

Perla Hudson: I’ve been. We want to take the kids, but just finding the right time and you know how that all goes. Hopefully we’ll be there soon.

Rick: A lot of people think rock stars are always self-indulgent, even rock couples, I suppose, but I saw that in the auction that’s coming up this month you have a passion for the L.A. Youth Network.

Perla Hudson: Absolutely.

Rick: I was wondering how you ended up choosing that particular charity?

Perla Hudson: Well, I’ve been on the Board of Directors for LAYN for about three years. I only, in the past couple of months, stepped down because there’s a lot of decision making when you’re on the Board of Directors and it was very time-consuming for me. I’m still on the Advisory Committee and on the Fundraising Committee for them, which is where this comes in.

We did a lot of charity work with the Department of Children’s Services. Every Christmas we would fulfill their wish lists. One year we rolled up on the Gibson tour bus and gave everybody Gibson guitars. Another year we actually gave the kids what they were hoping for. These are Children’s Services children. The woman from DCS told me about LAYN, which is a homeless shelter for children. It serves with emergency housing, temporary and permanent housing for kids in the L.A. area. So, we started focusing our efforts on LAYN.

It’s really important because a lot of people ask Slash to donate a top hat, donate a guitar, donate this, donate that, and he’s been extremely generous and giving, but you don’t necessarily always see where all that stuff is going to. With LAYN we see it. I’ve been there for kids’ birthdays. Slash has been to their talent shows. We’ve sponsored the kids to go to prom. It’s pretty amazing.

These are kids that have been living on the streets, have been kicked out of their homes because either they’re gay or lesbian or abused. Kids that got a birthday cake for the first time when they were 13 and didn’t know what to do with the candles. So, I think the work they do is amazing and the W.O.O.W. [We’re On Our Way] program is basically what your parents did for you.

When you were going through college, they paid for your housing, paid for your food, and that’s what the W.O.O.W. program does with these kids that are out of high school, up to the age of 22, even 25. There’s still a kid that age in school. It’s a great organization. It’s a home. We’re very hands-on with them, and as a matter of fact, they’re honoring us in June at their gala for a lot of the work that we’ve done for them.

Check Out GI’s Slash Interview Discussing Les Paul and Les Paul Guitars

Rick: What surprises me is that most missing children weren’t reported missing by their parents. That’s kind of heartbreaking.

Perla Hudson: Isn’t that horrible?

Rick: I can’t believe it. Looking at the auction, there are some pretty cool items that are obviously cool, whether they’re associated with Slash or not. One in particular caught my eye and probably caught a lot of people’s, and that’s that ’66 big block Corvette.

Perla Hudson: Oh, yeah. That was a really hard one for him to part with. [Both laughing] We’re all about minimizing now and he’s a bit of a pack rat. There was a time when I first met Slash he had like 10 cars. That was one of them, one of his big purchases when he first made a lot of money with Guns N’ Roses. He bought that car and recently he got an Aston Martin. There are only so many cars one can drive. We have kids now. We’ve got the SUV, so we’re parting with it. That one’s even harder for me.

Rick: Was that a driver or did you just keep it in the garage and keep it pristine?

Perla Hudson: Oh, no. We drove it. He didn’t drive it every day, but he did drive it on a regular basis.

Rick: Is it a coupe?

Perla Hudson: Yes, it is.

Rick: Oh, nice. I had a ’65 convertible, so I know they’re great cars.

Perla Hudson: Right. He had the whole thing, this was way back in the day when he bought it, I guess the late ’80s, had the whole stereo system tricked out to where the panel where you press the buttons for the stereo that was on the visor. After that I believe he put everything back to its original condition. But, it still has a pretty kickin’ stereo system in there, too. [Both laughing]

Rick: How tough was it then to give up some of those other auction items?

Perla Hudson: It was pretty tough. Getting him to go through his list of guitars was really difficult for him, and in a way I don’t blame him. The ones that he did part with, it was a lot for him. But, he has over 150 guitars, as it stands, so he’s getting rid of, I think it was 13 or 14.

Rick: If you had an opportunity, or maybe it would be a better question to ask him, to buy one of those auction items, which one do you think you or he would grab?

Perla Hudson: Well, I think that there’s a painting in there that we didn’t mean to put in there that we might have to buy back. [Both laughing]

Rick: What is it?

Perla Hudson: It’s the Ain’t Life Grand album cover artwork. It wasn’t supposed to go and if Slash hears this interview, he’ll kill me, because it went on accident; one of those things that got put into the wrong pile.

Rick: Oh, it happens.

Perla Hudson: Once they’re up for auction, we’ve got to buy them back.

Rick: It’ll go to a good cause, right?

Perla Hudson: Absolutely.

Rick: I was wondering how Slash ended up with the dinosaur collection that’s to be auctioned?

Perla Hudson: He’s been enamored of dinosaurs ever since he was a child and he’s a big collector, as you can see, with guitars and dinosaurs, cars. There are a few things that he’s interested in, but when he does get interested in something, he takes it to the next degree.

The dinosaurs…he’s probably just as schooled on paleontology as actual paleontologists are. This man is the encyclopedia of dinosaurs and that’s just his thing. A lot of those models he made himself. A lot of them he bought when he was in Japan touring in the early ’80s with Guns and put them together.

A lot of that stuff is all stuff that we got on different tours, but the dinosaurs in particular, when he and I originally hooked up, he had like a 10,000 square foot bachelor pad filled with pinball machines and dinosaur models. We’ve been keeping these in storage ever since and it was just time to unload them. They’re pretty cool.

Check Out Slash’s Long-Time Musical Partner in GI’s Duff McKagan Interview

Rick: I think it probably takes a lot of true grit to really be married to somebody who’s moved up so far in the world of rock ‘n’ roll. Did you know what you were getting into when you first met him?

Perla Hudson: You know what? It takes true grit, as you said, to be in any relationship long-term, regardless of with a rock star or not. Did I know what I was getting into? Not necessarily, but I had no expectations, and I still don’t and I just deal with things as they come. There are no expectations and nothing really shocks me.

Rick: I would think that you’d really have to be true to yourself at the same time.

Perla Hudson: Absolutely, and keep each other grounded and keep him grounded, specifically. Slash is such an introverted person that it’s very easy for him to get into his little world of music. We’re completely polar opposites, him and I, and it’s up to me to bring him out of that on a regular basis and be part of the real world. He’s kind of like a mad scientist in his lab, creating his music. Left to his own devices, he would be there 24/7.

Rick: How do you deal with all the noise, the media and the hysterics that surround the rock star thing?

Perla Hudson: It doesn’t really bother me. I’m not married to a politician, so what can they say that can bother us? [Both laughing] I’m a pretty open-minded person and nothing really shocks me, to tell you the truth.

Rick: The last time I interviewed Slash, after the interview he was going to a soccer game, taking your two kids to a soccer game. He sounds like he’s a pretty normal guy.

Perla Hudson: You know, we try to be. Recently, someone started working with us that couldn’t believe that he and I actually drive the carpool. He does too, with the rest of the kids. We have a carpool with two other families.

We try to be normal and as grounded as possible because at the end of the day, we’re all just human and you can’t escape your reality. Our reality might be a little different than others, but we have two really young boys that we want to keep grounded and have them grow up and be normal.

Rick: People tend not to like to brag about themselves. I actually taught a course with a psychologist and he said that people have no problem denigrating themselves, but when it comes to bragging about themselves, they tend not to like to do that. How about it? Would you mind bragging a little bit about who you are and what you think people should know about you? Things that you’re proud of…

Perla Hudson: Oh, okay. Goodness, I’m proud of my character, my survival skills. My parents were Cuban immigrants that, speaking quite frankly with you, were drug dealers when I was growing up. To have overcome that and have any sense of being normal was difficult. I grew up to be very loyal, but I had this entire crazy part of my life going on growing up.

I just think being a survivor and being open-minded are among the things I’m most proud of when it comes to my character. I’m very proud of my two children, that I have these two amazing little boys, and I’m really raising them to make a difference in the world when they grow older. I’m proud that I’ve been married 10 years this October. That’s a stretch!

Rick: Congratulations! Hey, your sons are really handsome little boys, really cute.

Perla Hudson: Thank you. They’re tough.

Rick: I bet.

Perla Hudson: When the older one was six months old and I had this baby nurse help me. She looked at me, she goes, “Oh, Perla,” she’s a little Irish lady, “This one is definitely not gonna be a wallflower,” and she was right. [Rick laughing]

Rick: A lot of guys who play, and I play guitar a lot, they often find that their spouses get a little bit tired of them playing guitar, maybe too loudly, and it’s happened to me and other friends of mine that when we’re playing, we kind of notice that the door gets closed on us. The wives are thinking, “That’s enough.” Tell me that Slash ends up experiencing the same thing, that he’s normal.

Perla Hudson: Yeah, but I love it when he plays around the house on his acoustic guitar. He does have a studio that’s completely soundproofed in the basement though. But, when they first built it, you could hear him blaring in the kitchen. It was okay for a minute, but after a while it got old, so we had to have it fixed. [Both laughing] But, he’s got like a soundproofed room down there.

Rick: That’s a good fix.

Perla Hudson: But, I love hearing him play acoustic guitar around the house, especially around the boys because one of them is taking guitar lessons. God, if he heard this, he’d probably kill me. I don’t know if he’s got that music gene, the older one, but the little one is extremely talented and self-taught to play piano and he’s in a little violin class. The little one is just amazing, so he’s enamored when he sees his father playing guitar. He just sits there and stares at him, so I love it, to tell you the truth.

Rick: Let me see if you’re willing to do an exchange with me here. If you’ll tell me what Slash’s favorite meal is or food, I’ll tell you what Les Paul told me his favorite food was and you can tell Slash.

Perla Hudson: Great! Let’s do that.

Rick: Les Paul’s favorite food was macaroni and cheese.

Perla Hudson: Slash’s favorite food is something spicy. Anything spicy.

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hiroki-moriuchi · 7 years ago

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2017′s best releases that you’ve missed

2017 was an interesting year in music. By that I mean that I went to a Breaking Benjamin concert, where someone asked me “Hey, do you play RS?” and since then I’ve been worried about how in the world a random guy could recognize me as a Runescape player, and how I can annihilate this part of me that shows this.

As for music releases, 2017 sucked. I know that’s not what I’m supposed to say at the beginning of a list of the best albums of 2017, but I can’t lie. There were few good albums in 2017. Thankfully, they were not entirely non-existent. I tried picking out the few good releases of this year, and here they are!

Artist: Moonfall EP: Empty Cage Genre: Alternative rock Rating: 7.5/10

NY-based alternative rock band Moonfall are back with another EP! With their first EP being a mostly progressive experimental piece, the band then experimented with other styles for 2 singles, and now they’re back with a new EP that seems to be more electronic than their previous works. A risky choice, because there have been many bands who incorporate electronic sounds into their music. What can make Moonfall any different?

The answer is: their different musical influences. The track Colorless being inspired by EDM, while title track Empty Cage seems to be more influenced an indie sound. And, not to forget, the clear J-rock influences in the bass playing: where other bands often ‘forget’ about the bass, Moonfall incorporates the bass guitar as a full part of the music, not just as something that has to be added “because that’s just how rock works”.

Listen on Youtube: Empty Cage Buy: Official site

Artist: While She Sleeps Album: You Are We Genre: Metalcore Rating: 8/10

Maybe you know this about me already, but I’m a sucker for balance in music (with some exceptions, like Crystal Lake’s Machina). As a result, this album is a real treat for me. While being generally heavy - what else to expect from metalcore? - the stunning clean vocals and catchy choruses or cool verses bring moments of relative rest, before you launch into a heavier part again. Also, it’s great music for moshing, as I discovered at their concert. If you have the chance to see them, grab it.

Listen on Youtube: Steal the Sun Buy: iTunes Nuclearblast.de Stream: Various options

Artist: The Last Sighs Of The Wind Album: We Are Trees Genre: Instrumental rock Rating: 7.5/10

Okay, so I have a confession to make. I’ve always been an emotional boy, but this year something special happened. For the first time in my life, I cried about instrumental music. And the people who made it happen are the people in The Last Sighs Of The Wind, with their song Your Wave Caresses Me. This band knows how to catch your attention with emotion-driven songs, and they don’t need vocals for that. This band is especially recommended to people who like post-rock - this band is clearly influenced by that genre - but I’d recommend it to anyone who can stand rock.

Listen on Bandcamp: Your Wave Caresses Me Buy: Bandcamp ($4)

Artist: Blank Slate EP: I Have Considered The Following Genre: Progressive rock Rating: 8/10

This EP is an experience. It’s some chilled out progressive rock, but what really puts this band apart from other bands is the vocalist. I must admit: at first, I felt like she was the ‘weak link’ in the band, and that she had some practicing to do. I felt that she didn’t have enough power in her voice. But as I listened more and more, I grew to like her soft singing. It’s quite unique; it’s not overbearing, it’s just a part of the instrumentation. Her voice gently carries you through the EP. As for the rest of the instruments: they work together very well to bring intricately woven, but not overly complicated songs. I’d say: take a listen.

Listen on Bandcamp: Tangency Buy: Bandcamp ($5)

Artist: Crystal Lake Single: Apollo Genre: Metalcore Rating: 8.5/10

I’d say that, in metalcore, there’s different levels of heaviness. From heavy to heavier: something can be “heavy”, “really heavy”, “holy shit”, “what the FUCK”, or it can be plain irresponsible. The song Machina falls in the last category, and is the reason this single made the list. While the other two songs are great as well, I feel Machina is a must in your music library.

Listen on Youtube: Machina Buy: iTunes ($2.58), CDJapan (¥2100)

Artist: Julien Baker Album: Turn Out The Lights Genre: Indie Rating: 9/10

We Are Trees is not the only album that made me cry this year. Julien Baker also managed to do it with the first song I heard by her, Appointments. Her open-heartedness shines through in her music. Which, with her apparently sad heart, makes for some really sad music. Her soft music is genuine, filled to the brim with emotions. Her at times powerful voice conveys the emotions in this album well. And, fun fact, this album was recommended to me by many different people that I met in a Facebook group for a metalcore band. I just mean to say: this album is to be enjoyed by anyone. You wouldn’t normally say a piano and soft guitar-driven album would be well-liked by metalheads, but Julien Baker is talented enough to turn the tides in her favor.

Listen on Youtube: Appointments Buy: Matador ($8)

Artist: I, The Mighty Album: Where The Mind Wants To Go / Where You Let It Go Genre: Alternative rock Rating: 8/10

I’ll be honest: this album is disappointing for one very specific reason: the album starts with Degenerates, which is a song that is, without a doubt, worth a rating of 10/10. Every song after that can only be a disappointment relative to Degenerates. That being said, the other songs are certainly good too. I feel like I have to write more stuff about this album but genuinely, I don’t even know why I’m typing up a short review for each album when I don’t enjoy typing it. Just get this: this album is about as heavy as most of the songs on Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight, so if you like that, you’ll like this.

Listen on Youtube: Degenerates Buy: iTunes

Artist: MY FIRST STORY EP: ALL SECRET TRACKS Genre: J-rock Rating: 9/10

What a surprise. On December 12, Japanese news sites suddenly announced a new MY FIRST STORY EP, for sale on December 13. A nice surprise no one saw coming, considering that the band had released another EP (ALL LEAD TRACKS) just a few months before. So, for such a ‘secret’ release that didn’t have much of an advertising campaign going for it, I expected it to be less good than their previous EP, ALL LEAD TRACKS, which was advertised a lot. How wrong I was! With ALL SECRET TRACKS, MY FIRST STORY delivered a musically diverse, yet cohesive EP. The opening track The Anthem, though in my opinion a bit too similar to a previous opening track, Weapons, offers a good introduction to the album. Then it goes on with violin-driven 終焉レクイエム. Then, MONSTER offers us a powerful, heavy track. It is driven mostly by rap, but it is Hiro’s screaming that makes this track stand out. Next, we calm down a little with 君のいない夜を越えて, and later even more with the acoustic track See You Again. The closing track Love Affair is a bit more upbeat again, and ties the album up well.

This EP is MY FIRST STORY playing around with things they haven’t played around with before, and it works very well. It is very good, but I don’t think this is MY FIRST STORY at their best yet. I look forward to what they will release in the future.

Listen on Youtube: MONSTER Buy: CDJapan (¥1800)

And the best album of the year is...

Artist: Sufferer Album: Sufferer Genre: Post-hardcore Rating: 9.3/10

Sufferer is an ambitious project. On their bandcamp page, they say that they are “detailing a day in the life of a Sufferer, with three vocalists portraying the Subject, his Anxiety, and his Depression.” If you ask me, they succeeded flawlessly in their portrayal of what it’s like - both lyrically and musically. Lyrically, they don’t fall into self-pity the way many other song writers do. Rather, they show awareness of the self-pity, and how they think they make their own bed, but still cannot get out. This album is in a sense isolated from the world. It’s got a kind of madness that I can relate to, while, looking at it from the outside, you wonder what in the world is going on inside a mind such as the one portrayed. The desperation of the Subject also speaks from the music arrangements. The music is chaotic, nervous. Even with all the lyrics left out, the music does a good job of depicting the mind of the Subject. In short: Just listen to it. Though a short warning in advance: the album may not be suitable for everyone. It may get you down, or the subject matter (suicide, alcohol abuse, among other things) may be triggering.

Listen on Bandcamp: Chapter III Buy: Bandcamp ($10)

Honorable mentions

He Is Legend - few (Hard rock, rock n roll): Great album, drenched in loneliness. If you listen to this in mid-summer you’ll probably still be cold. How can an album have these kind of vibes?! Taiga Woods - Taiga Woods (Stoner rock): Some really good stoner rock. It’s got a fair replay value, but not an unlimited replay value. By the time I made this post I didn’t love the album as much as I did before. Movements - Feel Something (Alternative rock): A GREAT album but also really sad. KILL LE KILL - Cabin in the Woods session (Acoustic pop-punk): When you listen to this, it feels like you’re in a cabin in the woods and one guy whips out his guitar and starts to sing. It doesn’t matter that he’s bad at it because you’re in the woods anyway and it’s not about the music, it’s about the experience. But he’s still not good at it. Also, here’s a free, legal download link. Entheos - Dark Future (Death metal): Extremely good prog death metal, but I figured it didn’t fit this blog. Turn For Our - Silence in face of Injustice is a crime (Hardcore punk): I’m a sucker for hardcore punk. gotta love it. S’efforcer - Survive}•{Discover (Experimental metal): This album puts me at ease for some reason, despite it being quite heavy at times. This album would have made the list had I discovered it not on December 30th.

#my first story #sufferer #i the mighty #while she sleeps #julien baker #moonfall #crystal lake #blank slate #we are trees #alternative metal #alternative rock #j-rock #metalcore #post-hardcore #i dont think the kill le kill album was a genuine attempt at making a good album

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cowboyarc · 4 years ago

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tagged by @lostnoise ty!!

1. do you prefer writing with a black pen or a blue pen? black pens, because in english they always asked us to use blue. and english was awful for me so no blue :p

2. would you prefer to live in the country or in the city? city, i lived in the bumheck middle of nowhere for 18 years and hated it.

3. if you could learn a new skill, what would it be? oooh, i really want to get better at the guitar, or learn to sword fight.

4. do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? Yes, but very very little.

5. what was your favorite book as a child? I dont remember having a favorite book? but my dad had this whole story written out and he’d use that to tell me bedtime stories. it was so cool.

6. do you prefer baths or showers? Showers, i am get anxious in baths? i feel weird just sitting there.

7. if you could be a mythical creature, which one would you be? d-r-a-g-o-n-s. in my dads stories that i mentioned above? there was an elf that was a half-ling and could turn into a dragon.

8. paper or electronic books? I dont read much? but definitely paper.

9. what is your favorite item of clothing? a ramones t-shirt my dad bought me on a business trip once. (its the rocket to russia album)

10. do you like your name? would you like to change it? I friggin hate my name, i wanna change it so bad but i dont know to what.

11. who is a mentor to you? i um.. dont have one?

12. would you like to be famous? if so, what for? I don’t know if I want to be famous, i’m very private person, but i guess if i had to maybe like a jenna/julien type of deal? like his aries kitchen series.

13. are you a restless sleeper? Very Much Yesss, I’m move so much.

14. do you consider yourself to be a romantic person? no... i’ve never had the opportunity to be?

15. which element best represents you? I’d say fire. maybe?

16. who do you want to be closer to? probably a couple of people? i dont talk to many people? but physically? my best friend i miss her a lot.

17. do you miss someone at the moment? my best friend, audi and alex and thier dogs, and my pops.

18. tell us about an early childhood memory. a lot of my childhood wasn’t the greatest? so i dont remember a lot of it? but i guess the bedtime stories my dad would tell

19. what is the strangest thing you have eaten? fried kool-aid with powdered sugar from the south carolina state fair.

20. what are you most thankful for? um.. being able to have a place to sleep/and food?

21. do you like spicy food? ohhhhh yes, its all i grew up on. audi’s ma is chinese and she cooked the best food all the time. and gave me sooo much.

22. have you ever met someone famous? Not that i remember

23. do you keep a diary or journal? i’ve tried several times, but i stop pretty fast, because i have nothing to say or the way i write starts to piss me off.

24. do you prefer to use pen or pencil? Mechanical pencils

25. what is your star sign? Aries babbey.

26. do you like your cereal crunchy or soggy? Crunchy? um... i know that maybe the crunch would be hard on some peeps teeth, but not in my house.(crunchy)

27. what would you want your legacy to be? i dont tend to think that far ahead.

28. do you like reading? What was the last book you read? i wish i did? its really hard for me to find a book that will hold my attention, and audio books are not a fun time for me because some sounds/voices i cant handle like that.

29. how do you show someone you love them? im definitely more of physical/small gestures kinda person. i’ll buy/make them little gifts, or offer cuddles (if they’re cool with touch) that type of stuff

30. do you like ice in your drinks? very little if at all, i only drink water, hot tea/coffee, and i dont like iced tea/coffee at all so.

31. what are you afraid of? um... nothing really that i can think of

32. what is your favorite scent? im very sensitive to smells, but i really like this sandlewood body wash i have.

33. do you address older people by their name or surname? soooo... i grew up in the south-south. so it was always yes ma’am, no sir, mr. smith, ms. jones. like even if someone was like call me betty or whatever it was weird to do that. but i’m slowly getting away from that since i moved away.

34. if money was not a factor, how would you live your life? I’d really like to help people, not sure in what capacity but yeah.

35. do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean? i did grow up about 40 mins from the ocean and would go there all the time. the water was gross and i wish the waves had been better, i’ve always wanted to surf proper. so ocean i guess.

36. what would you do if you found $50 in the ground? probably see if someone comes back for it? prob give it toward food or something for someone

37. have you ever seen a shooting star? did you make a wish? okay so audi’s house was prefect for star gazing and we’d do it all the time and we saw a couple over the years, and got torn up by misquitos.

38. what is one thing you would want to teach your children? dont want kids, but i’ll prob be a godparent eventually so just to be happy and comfortable with themselves.

39. if you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? I have several but the next one I want to get the doom symbol with my pop’s birthday (probably in roman numeral cause that look best) and whenever he passes his death date. a little morbid but ive always wanted that cause its his fav game.

40. what can you hear now? animal crossing, netflix (hannibal) and my smuckers pb&j wrapper lol (strawberry ofc)

41. where do you feel the safest? uh... my room sometimes?

42. what is one thing you want to overcome/conquer? a lot i dont wanna talk about.

43. if you could travel back to any era, what would it be? the 70s/80s to go to some concerts i guess

44. what is your most used emoji? im on pc so i have no clue, but the shaka sign

45. describe yourself using one word. sarcastic

46. what do you regret the most? there was a girl and we didnt have a lot of time together because i was leaving and i hurt her i think, i apologized later but that doesnt make it okay so yeah i hope shes doing okay.

47. last movie you saw? I watched the new animated Scoob! movie. i loved itt, scooby doo is my shit always.

tagging: i dont know i dont wanna bother folks, if you see this and it catches your fancy :)

#tag game #about snaps #thanks this was fun and i really had to think about some of them #long post

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salty-dracon · 7 years ago

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TMX- The Treehouse

Sam spends a night with the newcomers as they set up another campfire. To their surprise, he starts to tell them about his first few days in heaven, and his decision to join SECRET.

“You kids again?“

Brooke heard a voice behind her. She turned around to find Sam, who was pinching his brow in frustration.

“Sorry.“ Brooke shifted aside. “Wanna sit down?“

“’Nother fire pit? Geez, you guys are serious about this.“

“What can we say?“ Julien shrugged. “We really like fire.“

“Hah.“ Sam smiled. “Mind if I join ya? I’ve got nothing better to do.“

“No problem.“ Brooke shifted aside and let Sam sit down next to her.

“You’re our block leader, right?“

“Yeah.“ Sam stretched out. “Block leaders gotta patrol their blocks. Eh, we’re a good block. Most I’ve ever seen is Narin going out to fuck some dude, but it’s not like you can get pregnant here. Well, you can, but the baby comes out dead.“

“Really?” Julien asked. “How’d you find out?“

Sam chuckled. “Narin.”

“Christ.“ Arthur leaned forward. “Has she made any advances towards you?“

“Multiple times. I told her to back off, but every few months, I’ll get a little more boob than I care for.“ Sam whistled nervously as his eyes shifted towards Brooke. “Actually, she’s been going after Maiya.“

“Maiya Anara?“ Brooke asked. She thought of the Apache-descent girl with tough fists and a no-nonsense attitude. “Isn’t Maiya a girl?“

“Yeah. I don’t get it, and I’m not gonna ask, just in case she calls me jealous. It’s not like she has feelings for her. Trust me.“

“I cannot see Maiya getting along with Narin at all,“ Julien laughed. “Mai’s so serious and tough, and Narin’s just... weird.”

“Her angel would have loved her,“ Arthur said as he poked the fire with a stick. “I wonder why she left.”

“Well, maybe for the same reason you guys left.” Sam smiled. “Maybe they just didn’t agree about something.”

“Why did you leave?” Arthur asked.

“Arthur!“ Brooke snapped.

“No, it’s fine.“ Sam sighed. “My story... it’s... okay, I guess. Nothing out of the ordinary.“

“What do you mean, nothing out of the ordinary?“ Julien asked, stretching their arms out.

Sam sighed. “Well, let’s start from the beginning. I died in a car crash while holding my guitar in my hands. I was out with some buddies when suddenly the car swerved and since I was in the back, my head was crushed by falling instruments, but I had my guitar with me. None of them died, just me.

“Like you guys, I took the train into heaven, got told to give up my stuff, which I didn’t, and then once I walked out, he kinda snatched me up.“ His brow wrinkled as he reached for the memory. “Green wings, like a parrot’s. He was wearing... I don’t know. A kimono or something. He pressed me against his chest and hugged me. It felt... good. Because... it felt strong and tight... and all of a sudden, I wanted to see my sister again. And my sister- her name’s Lumi- god, I love it when she hugs me. We love each other so much, y’know? That’s what it felt like. Lumi’s hugs.

“He took me back to his home, which was this giant treehouse in the jungle for whatever reason. And he said it was my home, and I could stay there forever, and he was my brother, born with me in a womb as old as time, and all that shit. I really thought we were going to get along. I really did.

“But then, he got weird. He started... kissing me. Calling me things like his nightingale and his little canary. He was obsessed with my voice. He kept describing the bond between guardians and humans to me. How it worked. What happened. He just... wouldn’t leave me alone. And when I asked about my family and Lumi, he just... he got really mad. Kept asking me why I even cared about them when they weren’t even my family.”

“You were adopted?” Julien asked.

“Yeah. He told me that he watched my entire family die in a car crash. All but little infant me. He told me that didn’t you think it was weird, that you and your sister have the same birthday but don’t look anything alike. Turns out she wasn’t even my sister. She was my first cousin, and my aunt and uncle adopted me. He kept saying- how dare I love someone who wasn’t even my sister. How dare I still want to see her after growing up with her and spending my entire life with her.” Sam turned to Brooke and grabbed her shoulders, tearing up. “That how dare I love anyone... that I even think about anyone... who wasn’t him. And that was when I decided I had to leave.“

Brooke pushed Sam’s hands away.

“How did that go?“ Arthur asked.

“I went to the commonplace. I was just hanging out with some dudes and girls eating ice cream when this one girl pulled me aside and said that she could help me escape. After our fight my guardian started being nice again. He stopped calling me pet names and kinda left me alone, but then he told me his own opinion about Xero. How it could rip us apart. I knew that there was nothing between us to begin with, but I didn’t care. Anyway, when I finally started down the initiation, he kept begging me to come back in his sleep. He said that he just wanted what was best for us. That despite all of the grief he gave me, he still loved me. I told him he was a sick and twisted bastard who deserved everything coming to him.“

“And here you are?“ Arthur asked.

“And here I am.“ Sam smiled. “We’ve... met. On the field. He keeps seeking me out alone. Per usual angel fashion. But unlike the others, he’s absolutely merciless. Whenever he finds me, he always brings someone close to me with him. Throws them down at my feet, gives me his gun, and orders me to shoot them if I’m half the man I think I am. Every goddamn time, I shoot my friend. He smiles, points the gun at me, tells me he loves me. Right before another friend saves my ass.“

“And?“ Julien asked. “Why don’t you shoot him instead?“

“With the angels, it’s not that simple. For one, when they get you alone, they know your every weakness. It’s impossible to win against your angel alone. That’s why the angels fear Xero- because we work as a team. When you’ve got three people against three angels- or even two against two- the angels know you stand a chance against them. And that’s what they want. Power.“

“That’s not what I asked,“ Julien said. “Why don’t you just pull a last-minute shoot at his heart?“

“Angels aren’t like humans. You know how our bodies in some way shape our souls? Well, for angels-“

“Hey. Sam.“

Sam turned around. A boy with red hair and icy blue eyes was pointing a flashlight at his face.

“Ares. Do you need something?“ Sam asked.

“You’re supposed to get them back to their dorms, not hang out with them.“

“Come on, sit down.“ Sam pointed next to Julien. “We’re just talking about our angels.“

Ares nodded. “I... ”

“He doesn’t like to talk about her.“ Sam stretched and stood up. “His angel’s downright crazy. Never seen her in action, but jesus, I’d be scared to.“

“Yikes.“ Arthur stood up. “Are we packing up now?“

Ares nodded.

Julien smiled and dumped the blue bucket of water all over the flames. They puffed out with a resounding hiss.

“All right. Good night then.” Brooke waved her goodbyes and walked to the girls’ dorm. Julien followed her, while Arthur ran off in the direction of the boy’s dorm. Sam and Ares watched them.

“These were the kids you were talking about, right?“ Ares asked. “Flames of revolution.“

“They were actually talking about fire being the key to evolution, but... revolution works too, I guess.“

“Right.“ Ares sighed. “Why do you like them so much?”

“Because I can sense something from them. They’re strong. They won’t give in to the angels, no matter what. And maybe it’s because they left the train together, but they’re already the closest of friends. If we just had more people like them, we could win the war.“

(More TMX stuff. I don’t have set names for all of the guardians, but I’m changing a few things about the universe. First, Julien is a “they”. In previous drafts I wrote them as either a “he” or “she” because i wasn’t sure what gender they should be. Second, these campfires that Brooke and her friends keep setting up will end up being a tradition at Stronghold Mars.)

#tmx

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xkaylinh · 6 years ago

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Some Thoughts on Music: Personal Preference, Diversity, and Accountability

I first heard of Half Waif when I saw them live opening for Julien Baker in 2017. I’m not usually into electro pop but there was something about this band’s sound that really captivated me. Afterwards, I followed up by looking up their live performances on places like NPR Tiny Desk Concert and Audiotree Live, both of which I also really enjoyed. During this time, though, the band was on the periphery, as I was getting more and more obsessed with Mitski and Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. I saw Half Waif again last night at their headlining show in Los Angeles. This time, Nandi Rose Plunkett performed solo, yet somehow she still managed to fill the stage with her presence. I was so blown away that I bought her album.

This morning, as I was listening to the CD, I was idly scrolling through her Instagram when I spotted a photo of her in a Sari. Wait, what?! I did some Googling and, yup, she’s part-Indian. I had no idea! This revelation filled me with Asian pride. I’m already a huge fan of her music after seeing her live the second time and listening to her album, but that made me love her just that much more.

Then I got to thinking: Is it a bad thing that I like certain artists based on their gender, race, or sexuality? I started listening to Tegan and Sara in the first place because of the novelty of them being lesbian twin sisters; I found out about Thao Nguyen as I was searching for Asian American musical artists. But with Nandi, it was the other way around, I came across her music first, then found out about her cultural identity. I do believe that Thao’s and Tegan and Sara’s bodies of work stand on their own, that I would’ve fallen in love with their music regardless of who they were. But who they were made me fall in love with them, not just as artists, but as people. I think it’s fine to want diversity in the people whose art you consume. Whether explicitly or implicitly, their experiences inform their art. Once I’d found myself rather unwittingly distanced from the music of straight white men, I’d found it kind of refreshing. It’s okay to be drawn to artists who may have shared some of your experiences, as well as artists whose experiences don’t quite mirror your own.

I wrote the following a few months ago, after seeing Thao perform live. At the time, I was reluctant to publish it for some reason. Coincidentally, in the last week or so, some news has come to light regarding Ryan Adams. I’ve never listened to his music, and now I don’t think I ever will. I’m a huge fan of Phoebe Bridgers, so it really puts a face to the issue and brings it into perspective. In light of all this, and my newfound appreciation for Nandi, I thought I should share this now:

For many years, Brand New was one of my most favorite bands. Their albums Deja Entendu and The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me were life-changing for me. I was so drawn to how depressing and self-deprecating their lyrics often were, and how experimental and challenging their sound was. I learned how to play a lot of their songs on guitar. I went to see them once, and even got a t-shirt at their show, which I would wear proudly at school for years until the color faded. I looked up to frontman Jesse Lacey as a musician, both for his vocals and for his songwriting. I never met him, though, but I’d read random accounts online that he wasn’t always the nicest with fans. The ancient beef they once had with Taking Back Sunday, and the fact that they did minimal press and interviews, only added to their alluring mystique. When they announced that their most recent album would be their last, I was heartbroken.

That is, until Jesse Lacey was faced with allegations of sexual harassment.

The band’s silence, which I once thought was cool, now looked like cowardice. Lyrics which once seemed like a guilty fantasy started to sound like a confession. I found that I was no longer able to listen to their music. I took down any covers I had recorded of their songs. I even considered burning the shirt I had of theirs, which would’ve been kind of funny because the image is of a tree on fire. I reacted a similar way when news came out about Louis C.K., Aziz Ansari, and Kevin Spacey. I’d finished Louie (the show) and Master of None, regarding them as some of the best half-hour shows I’d seen, and I was two seasons into House of Cards . Now, any time I see their names and their faces online, I am filled with disgust. I can hardly go through clips of Parks and Recreation anymore, and I loved that show so much. It’s a certain kind of betrayal when someone whose work you’ve looked up to for so long is accused of such horrible things. For a while, I actually believed that you shouldn’t have heroes, because they will fail you.

In my second year of college, I was taking a class on Asian American Fiction, and it opened my eyes to the amount of literature that I was missing out on from people who looked like me and shared my experiences. I figured, if there were so many Asian American authors out there I didn’t know about, surely there were also Asian American musicians I should look out for. And so, through research, I discovered Thao Nguyen. I tried getting into her music, listening to her first album, but was initially put off by her indie/folk sound, as it wasn’t really what I was into at the time. But still, I was thrilled that someone with my last name was making it in the music biz.

Flash forward a few years, and a Mitski song is covered on Adventure Time, one of my favorite shows. I looked into Mitski’s albums and was blown away. I immediately learned every song I could of hers, and I tried getting my friends to join me in recording covers. Through her, I then discovered a bunch of other artists, some of them Asian American, but all of them female. After a while, I figured, I should give Thao Nguyen another shot. So, I did the logical thing (haha) and skipped a few albums, going from her first album straight to her most recent one, and boy was I glad I did so. As obsessed as I am with Mitski, some days the only thing I want to listen to is that new Thao album. From there, I went backwards, listening to her third album, and then her second, and I found that, hey, I like these albums a lot, too. When she tweeted out that she was playing a free show in LA, I made plans right away to go see her.

For the past maybe year and a half, I’ve been listening almost exclusively to female artists, some of them Asian, some of them LGBTQ+. I would like to think that this is me being more open-minded towards the kinds of artists I am drawn to, but at around the same time this was happening, all the stuff with Brand New and Jesse Lacey went down, and for some reason, not only was I unable to listen to Brand New, I also had little interest in listening to new albums from bands I had listened to alongside Brand New, whom I associated with the same era in my life. I’d like to think this, and my current interest in female artists, is more correlation than causation. I don’t want to give him too much credit.

When Thao performed her song “Meticulous Bird” (and I honestly can’t say for sure if this was from a video or from when I saw her live), she dedicated the song to, as she put it, “survivors of all kinds,” and that meant a lot to me, not as someone who’s experienced sexual harassment, but someone who is a human being who knows other human beings who’ve posted the hashtag #metoo on social media. She performed her entire solo set with such passion and energy, it was so captivating to watch. I was very glad that I returned to her older albums, as I was able to recognize more than just songs from A Man Alive. Afterward, I saw that she was taking pictures with fans, so I decided to get in line. When I walked up to her, I told her that I am also Vietnamese American, and that it means so much to me and inspires me greatly that she’s out there making music the way she does. I asked for a picture, and then a hug, and she was so nice and said she really appreciated my comments. From then, I realized, the lesson to learn here isn’t that you shouldn’t have heroes, it’s that if your heroes betray you, find new ones. Find better ones. For every Jesse Lacey out there, there’s also a Thao Nguyen, and when you meet that new hero of yours, they’re going to be awesome.

#half waif #nandi rose plunkett #mitski #thao and the get down stay down #thao nguyen #phoebe bridgers #julien baker #tegan and sara

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